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EDUCATIONAL 
QUESTIONS 

W.    C.    DOUB 


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Educational 

Questions 


W.  C.  DOUB,  A.  B. 

(Stanford  University) 
COUNTY  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  SCHOOLS  FOR  KERN  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA 


•»■>,»      > 


PUBLISHED   FOR  THE  AUTHOR 
BY 

THE    WHITAKER    &    RAY    COMPANY 

(incorporated) 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 

1900 


Copyright,  1900 

BY 

THE  WHITAKER  &  RAY  CO. 


«*-r       V.U- 


^^V- 


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•    •      •   •     •    "«"         •   •    ••«    •        •      «• 


PREFACE. 


The  public  school  system  of  California  during  the 
next  few  years  is  destined  to  pass  through  a  period 
of  change  and  transition.  I  recognize,  at  least  to 
some  extent,  the  vital  importance  of  this  period  of 
transition,  and  I  recognize  further,  that  some  of  the 
evils  in  the  public  school  system,  which  we  now  see, 
will  not  be  remedied  during  this  period,  but  must  be 
postponed  for  final  correction  to  some  future  time. 
With  some  knowledge  of  the  limitations  which  the 
present  environment  necessitates,  I  have,  in  the 
pages  which  follow,  discussed  some  of  the  evils  of 
the  present  school  system  and  have  pointed  out  the 
remedy.  Some  of  these  remedies  are  based  on 
actual  experience,  some  are  not;  but  they  are  sub- 
mitted with  the  one  request  that  the  public,  the 
educator  and  the  legislator  give  them  due  considera- 
tion. The  discussions  are  short,  sometimes  even  to 
bluntness,  the  object  being  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  reader  directly  to  the  evil  and  to  the  remedy, 
and  to  avoid  bewildering  the  mind  with  details. 

W.  C.  DOUB. 

Bakersfleld,  Cal.,  March  1,  1900. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/educationalquestOOdoubrich 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE. 

1.  Certification  of  Teachers 7 

2.  Relation  of  the  University  to  the  Courses  of  Study  in  the 

Elementary  and  Secondary  Schools  -        -        -      25 

3.  Courses  of  Study  in  Elementary  Schools       -       -       -      35 

4.  Grammar  by  the  Inductive  Method        -       -       -       -      71 

5.  The  State  Text-book  System         •       -       -       -       -99 


CERTIFICATION   OF  TEACHERS. 


The  position  of  the  public  school  teacher  is  becom- 
ing of  more  and  more  importance.  There  is  an  in- 
creasing tendency  in  the  United  States  to  assign  to 
the  teacher  duties  that  have  heretofore  been  as- 
sumed by  the  parent.  The  mental,  moral  and  physi- 
cal training  of  the  child  is  being  left  to  the  teacher. 
This  tendency  may  or  may  not  be  a  wise  one,  but  it 
exists,  and  the  indications  are  that  it  will  continue 
to  exist.  This  being  true,  the  parent  and  society  at 
large  are  vitally  interested  in  the  character  and 
ability  of  the  men  and  women  into  whose  hands  has 
been  placed  so  large  a  share  of  this  responsibility. 
A  republican  state  is  vitally  interested  in  the  men- 
tal, moral  and  physical  training  and  education  of  its 
young  men  and  women.  In  the  United  States  this 
duty  has  been  largely  assigned  to  the  public  schools. 
The  efficiency  of  those  schools  depends  more  on  the 
teacher  than  on  all  other  things  combined.  School 
buildings  and  school  apparatus  are  the  necessary 
adjuncts,  but  the  teacher  is  the  school.  His  charac- 
ter and  his  qualifications  should  be  of  deeper  con- 
cern to  the  parent  and  to  the  state  than  the  school 
house  in  which  the  child  studies  and  recites  or  the 
apparatus  with  which  he  works.  Those  who  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  laws  which  govern  the  issuing  of 
teachers'  certificates  ought  thoroughly  to  under- 
stand that  they  are  dealing  with  one  of  the  most  im- 


8    "'    ''   '      EDUdA^TIO^^AL    QUESTIONS, 

portant  questions  of  education.     They  should  keep 
the  efficiency  of  the  teacher  constantly  in  view. 

The  present  method  of  granting  teachers'  certifi- 
cates in  California  is  as  follows : 

1.  The  County  Boards  of  Education  and  City 
Boards  of  Examination  may  issue  certificates  of  the 
primary,  the  grammar  and  the  high  school  grade, 
and  special  certificates,  to  all  those  who  successfully 
pass  examinations  prepared  and  conducted  by  said 
boards.  County  Boards  of  Education  may  also  is- 
sue certificates  on  certain  credentials  from  other 
states,  or  on  certificates  issued  by  other  counties. 

2.  The  State  Board  of  Education  may  grant  State 
Educational  diplomas  of  either  the  grammar  or  the 
high  school  grade  valid  for  six  years,  and  State  Life 
diplomas  of  either  the  grammar  or  the  high  school 
grade  valid  for  life.  These  diplomas  are  granted  on 
experience  in  teaching,  when  the  applicant  is  recom- 
mended by  the  County  Board  of  Education. 

3.  Certificates  of  the  grammar  grade  must  be  is- 
sued to  those  who  hold  California  State  Normal 
School  diplomas. 

4.  Certificates  of  the  high  school  grade  may  be 
issued  to  graduates  of  the  University  of  California 
and  of  other  universities  which  the  State  Board  of 
Education  may  decide  are  of  the  same  rank;  pro- 
vided, that  said  graduates  have  completed  the  re- 
quired amount  of  work  in  the  department  of  educa- 
tion, and  are  recommended  by  the  faculty  of  the 
university  of  which  they  are  graduates. 

The  method  of  granting  certificates  as  outlined 
above,  would  seem  to  have  proven  unsatisfactory  to 
a  large  number  of  the  educators  of  the  state,  and 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  9 

they  have  been  casting  about  for  a  remedy.  Some 
are  advocating  a  change,  because  the  number  of 
school  teachers  in  California  is  almost  twice  as  large 
as  the  number  of  school  positions  to  be  filled.  But 
this  fact  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  the  require- 
ments for  securing  certificates  should  be  made  more 
difficult.  It  does,  however,  remove  the  necessity  of 
considering  the  question  of  supply  when  a  change 
in  the  requirements  for  teachers'  certificates  is  un- 
der consideration,  which  has  for  its  object  the  in- 
creasing of  the  efliciency  of  the  teaching  force  of  the 
state.  If  the  tests  are  to  be  made  more  difficult  for 
those  who  are  trying  to  obtain  certificates  entitling 
them  to  teach  in  the  public  schools  of  the  state,  the 
object  should  not  be  to  decrease  the  number  of 
teachers — though  that  might  be  desirable — but  to 
better  prepare  teachers  for  the  responsible  duties 
which  they  must  assume.  If  it  be  desirable  to  make 
the  tests  more  difficult,  an  excessive  number  of 
teachers  removes  an  important  obstacle,  because  the 
requirements  for  teachers'  certificates  cannot  be  ad- 
vanced if  said  action  would  result  in  giving  an  un- 
der supply  of  teachers. 

The  object  of  this  discussion  is  to  point  out  some 
of  the  defects  in  the  present  method  of  granting 
teachers'  certificates  and  to  suggest  a  better  method, 
with  the  hope  that  the  entire  discussion  may  assist, 
to  some  extent,  in  bringing  about  a  much  needed 
reform  in  the  certification  of  teachers. 

The  greatest  evil  of  the  present  method  of  grant- 
ing teachers'  certificates  is  the  power  given  to 
county  boards  of  education  and  city  boards  of  ex- 
amination to  issue  certificates  of  the  primary,  the 


10  EDUCATIOyAL     QUESTIONS. 

grammar  and  the  high  school  grade  on  examinations 
prepared  and  conducted  by  themselves.  This  has 
resulted  in  creating  almost  as  many  standards  of 
requirements  as  there  are  counties  in  the  state,  and 
in  the  certification  of  hundreds  of  teachers  who  are 
unqualified  for  the  duties  of  the  profession  to  which 
their  certificates  admit  them.  And  this  certification 
of  unqualified  applicants  by  these  examining  boards 
is  a  natural  result,  because  the  members  of  these 
boards  live  in  an  environment  tending  toward  a  low 
standard  of  requirement  for  the  examinations. 
Most  of  them  owe  their  positions  to  politics,  and 
there  is  a  constant  and  strong  pressure  brought  to 
bear  on  them  in  favor  of  the  local  applicant.  This 
means  that  the  examinations  must  not  be  made 
difficult  and  that  the  local  applicant  must  be  fa- 
vored in  every  possible  way.  There  are  less  than 
half  a  dozen  counties  in  this  state  in  which  the 
county  board  of  education  has  had  the  courage  to  re- 
quire of  applicants  for  grammar  grade  certificates 
an  education  equal  to  that  furnished  by  the  average 
high  school,  and  through  favoritism  of  various 
kinds  the  examination  of  the  local  applicant  is  not 
so  difficult  as  the  questions  would  indicate.  It  fre- 
quently occurs  that  grammar  school  graduates  after 
studying  one  or  two  years  secure  certificates  at  one 
of  these  examinations. 

Many  unacquainted  with  school  affairs  will  natur- 
ally conclude  that  unqualified  teachers  will  be  un- 
able to  secure  positions.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  how- 
ever, the  opposite  is  true.  A  university  or  a  normal 
school  graduate  cannot  secure  a  position  as  readily 
as  a  local  applicant  who  has  succeeded  in  squeezing 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  11 

through  the  local  examination.  Men  and  women  of 
wealth,  influence  and  ability,  who  use  good  judg- 
ment in  most  things,  will  go  to  members  of  city 
boards  of  education,  and  to  district  trustees,  and  ask 
them  as  a  personal  favor  to  elect  some  local  teacher, 
without  considering  whether  or  not  he  is  well  quali- 
fied for  the  duties  of  the  position.  This  local  influ- 
ence which  is  brought  to  bear  in  favor  of  the  local 
applicant  because  he  needs  the  money,  usually  pre- 
vails. In  other  words,  men  and  women  who  ought 
to  know  better  act  as  though  they  believe  that  the 
public  school  exists  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  po- 
sitions for  teachers  simply  because  said  teachers 
may  be  in  need  of  financial  help. 

The  local  teacher  who  is  well  qualified  should 
always  be  given  the  preference.  It  too  often  hap- 
pens, however,  that  the  local  teacher,  whether  well 
qualified  or  not,  secures  a  position  through  local  in- 
fluence; and  it  is  also  true  that  county  boards  of 
education  are  responsible  for  the  existence  of  the 
majority  of  these  unqualified  teachers. 

Another  evil  of  the  present  method  of  issuing  cer- 
tificates is  the  granting  of  educational  and  life  di- 
plomas of  the  grammar  and  high  school  grades  by 
the  State  Board  of  Education.  As  stated  above, 
these  certificates  are  issued  on  experience  in  teach- 
ing and  are  good  in  all  parts  of  the  State — the  educa- 
tional diploma  for  six  years,  and  the  life  diploma  for 
life. 

The  objection  to  these  state  diplomas  lies  not  in 
that  they  are  issued  for  six  years  or  for  life  and  are 
good  all  over  the  State.  In  fact,  these  features  are 
points  in  their  favor.  The  injury  to  the  public  school 


12  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

system  results  from  county  boards  of  education  re- 
newing the  certificates,  which  they  have  granted  to 
unqualified  teachers,  until  said  teachers  can  secure 
an  educational  or  life  diploma.  The  state  diploma 
enables  unqualified  teachers  to  injure  the  school 
work  of  other  counties.  Before  they  received  their 
state  diploma  they  could  be  restricted  to  the  county 
that  had  issued  to  them  their  certificate;  after  re- 
ceiving it,  they  can  teach  in  any  county  in  the  state. 
From  an  educational  standpoint,  it  is  an  excellent 
plan  to  grant  grammar  grade  certificates  to  normal 
school  graduates,  provided  the  normal  school  courses 
of  study  amount  to  a  fairly  liberal  education  in 
addition  to  the  necessary  professional  training.  The 
normal  schools  of  California  do  not  meet  these  re- 
quirements, and  the  same  is  true  of  most  normal 
schools  in  the  United  States.  At  the  present  time 
the  normal  schools  are  not  professional  schools  in 
the  true  sense  of  that  term.  Most  of  their  work  is 
work  that  should  be  done  and  is  done  by  the  average 
high  school.  When  a  normal  school  graduate  enters 
the  university,  he  stands  upon  the  same  footing  as  a 
high  school  graduate — both  beginning  the  first 
year's  work.  This  condition  of  affairs  is  most  unde- 
sirable. No  one  should  be  allowed  to  enter  a  nor- 
mal school  devoted  to  the  training  of  teachers,  who 
is  not  already  a  graduate  of  a  good  high  school  or  its 
equivalent,  and  the  work  in  the  normal  school 
should  be  at  least  a  two  years'  course,  amounting  to 
a  fairly  liberal  education  and  involving  special  peda- 
gogical training.  Not  until  we  change  our  present 
policy  of  establishing  small  normal  schools  of  com- 
paratively low  rank  can  we  hope  to  raise  materially 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  13 

the  standard  of  requirement  for  teachers'  certifi- 
cates. Better  one  or  two  large  normal  schools  with"^ 
first-class  faculties,  where  thorough  w^ork  is  done, 
than  half  a  dozen  small  and  inefficient  ones.  The 
normal  school  should  not  take  the  place  of  the  high 
school,  no  matter  how  anxious  normal  school  teach- 
ers may  be  to  increase  the  attendance  at  the  normal 
school  in  which  they  are  teaching,  or  however 
anxious  the  people  of  the  city,  in  which  the  said 
school  is  located,  may  be  to  avoid  the  expense  of 
maintaining  a  local  high  school  or  to  secure  the  com- 
mercial advantage  of  a  large  normal  school  attend-/ 
ance. 

Another  bad  result  of  the  present  normal  school 
courses  of  study,  is  the  graduating  of  students  before 
they  are  old  enough  to  take  charge  of  a  school.  With 
rare  exceptions,  twenty-one  years  of  age  is  young 
enough  for  a  teacher  to  take  charge  of  school  work, 
and  twenty-two  or  twenty-three  years  of  age  is  bet- 
ter. Under  the  present"  arrangements,  students  can 
easily  graduate  from  the  normal  schools  at  the  age 
of  nineteen  or  twenty.  If  a  student  were  required  to 
devote  eight  or  nine  years  to  elemntary  school  work, 
four  years  to  secondary  school  work  and  two  or  three 
years  to  normal  school  work,  he  would  be  about 
twenty-one  or  twenty-two  years  of  age  when  he  se- 
cured admission  to  the  profession  of  teaching.  In 
other  professions  and  in  the  business  world  gen- 
erally, very  few  men  and  women  under  this  age  se- 
cure positions  as  important  as  the  teacher  occupies 
when  in  charge  of  a  school.  In  addition  to  other 
requirements,    it    requires    considerable    executive 


14  EDUCATIO^^AL     QUESTIONS. 

ability  to  manage  properly  a  school,  and  boys  and 
girls  as  a  rule  do  not  possess  this  ability. 

No  better  requirement  should  be  demanded  of  an 
applicant  for  a  high  school  certificate,  than  a  uni- 
versity diploma  of  graduation,  accompanied  by  a 
recommendation  of  the  faculty  stating  that  the  ap- 
plicant has  had  the  required  professional  training, 
and  is  otherwise  qualified  for  making  a  successful 
teacher.  It  would  be  well,  however,  to  restrict  the 
scope  of  high  school  certificates  to  those  subjects  in 
which  the  applicant  has  specialized  while  attending 
the  university.  A  high  school  teacher  should  not  be 
permitted  to  attempt  to  teach  subjects  in  the  high 
school  in  which  he  has  not  had  a  liberal  university 
training. 

There  can  be  no  valid  objections  offered  to  issuing 
certificates  on  credentials  from  other  states,  pro- 
vided said  credentials  are  equivalent  to  those  re- 
quired by  the  laws  of  this  state.  This  matter  of 
accrediting  the  credentials  of  other  states,  however, 
should  receive  careful  attenton.  It  is  better  to  err 
in  favor  of  California  requirements,  than  in  favor  of 
requirements  of  other  states. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  injurious  results  of  the  pres- 
ent method  of  certificating  teachers,  the  method  out- 
lined below  is  suggested,  and  the  attention  of  all 
those  who  are  interested  in  education  is  respectfully 
called  to  the  same. 

1.  The  State  Board  of  Education  should  consist 
of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction, 
the  President  of  the  University  of  California,  the 
President  of  the  Stanford  University,  the  professor 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  15 

at  the  head  of  the  Department  of  Education  of  each 
of  the  above  named  universities,  and  the  Presidents 
of  the  State  Normal  Schools. 

2.  The  State  Board  of  Education  should  pre- 
scribe the  minimum  amount  of  work  in  university 
departments  of  education  that  would  be  accepted 
for  high  school  certificates,  and  the  minimum 
amount  of  university  work  in  any  subject  that 
would  be  accepted  for  high  school  certificates.  It 
should  select  those  universities  in  the  United  States 
which  are  of  equal  rank  with  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia in  so  far  as  the  requirements  for  granting 
high  school  certificates  are  concerned,  and  should 
select  those  normal  schools  in  the  United  States 
which  are  of  equal  rank  with  the  California  state 
normal  schools.  It  should  also  select  those  creden- 
tials upon  which  special  certificates  would  be  issued. 

3.  The  State  Board  of  Education  should  elect  all 
the  California  state  normal  school  teachers;  pro- 
vided, that  the  presidents  of  the  state  normal  schools 
have  no  voice  in  the  selection  of  the  president  of  said 
schools:  the  State  Board  of  Education  should  pre- 
scribe the  courses  of  study  for  the  state  norma? 
schools;  provided,  that  no  student  should  be  per- 
mitted to  enter  a  state  normal  school  who  is  not  a 
graduate  of  a  good  secondary  school,  or  does  not 
possess  an  equivalent  education;  and  provided  fur- 
ther, that  the  normal  school  courses  of  study  be  not 
less  than  two  year  courses. 

4.  There  should  be  but  three  grades  of  teachers' 
certificates  in  California — high  school  grade,  gram- 


16  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

mar  grade,  and   special  certificates,  all  of  which 
should  be  issued  by  the  State  Board  of  Education. 

5.  High  school  grade  certificates  should  be  issued 
only  on  diplomas  of  graduation  from  the  University 
of  California  and  from  other  universities  in  the 
United  States  of  equal  rank;  and  then  only  when 
the  holders  of  said  diplomas  have  successfully  com- 
pleted the  required  amount  of  work  in  the  university 
department  of  education,  and  are  specifically  recom- 
mended for  the  profession  of  teaching  by  the  faculty 
of  the  university  of  which  they  are  graduates;  and 
provided  further,  that  high  school  grade  certificates 
authorize  the  holders  to  teach  only  those  subjects  in 
which  they  have  had  a  thorough  university  training, 
and  for  the  teaching  of  which  they  have  been  spe- 
cifically recommended  by  the  faculty  of  the  uni- 
versity of  which  they  are  graduates. 

G.  Grammar  grade  certificates  should  be  issued 
only  on  diplomas  of  graduation  from  California 
state  normal  schools  and  from  other  normal  schools 
in  the  United  States  of  equal  rank. 

7.  Special  certificates  should  be  issued  on  creden- 
tials selected  by  the  State  Board  of  Education. 
These  special  certificates  should  authorize  the  hold- 
ers to  teach  some  one  or  more  of  the  following 
subjects : 

Music,  drawing,  polytechnic  work,  commercial 
work,  or  physical  training. 

8.  All  three  grades  of  certificates  should  be  valid 
in  all  the  counties  of  the  state,  and  should  be  perma- 
nent certificates  unless  revoked  by  the  State  Board 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  17 

of  Education  for  unprofessional  conduct.  When 
teaching,  the  holder  of  a  certificate  should  be  re- 
quired to  have  the  same  registered  in  the  ofilce  of 
the  school  superintendent  of  the  county  in  which  he 
is  teaching. 

9.  A  high  school  grade  certificate  should  author- 
ize the  holder  to  teach  the  subjects  named  in  his  cer- 
tificate in  any  of  the  secondary  schools  of  the  state, 
and  should  be  accepted  in  lieu  of  a  grammar  grade 
certificate. 

10.  Grammar  grade  certificates  should  authorize 
the  holder  to  teach  in  any  of  the  kindergartens,  and 
in  any  of  the  elementary  schools  of  the  state. 

11.  A  special  certificate  should  authorize  the 
holder  to  teach  the  subjects  named  in  his  certificate 
in  any  of  the  elementary  or  primary  schools  of  the 
state. 

I  believe  that  the  method  of  granting  teachers' 
certificates  as  outlined  above,  while  it  would  be  a 
material  advance  over  the  present  method,  would 
not  place  the  profession  of  teaching  in  California  on 
a  higher  plane  than  it  deserves.  While  it  would  re- 
strict the  number  of  those  who  would  be  able  to 
secure  certificates  each  year,  it  seems  reasonable  to 
presume  that  the  supply  would  continue  equal  to  the 
demand.  A  great  many  who  now  secure  certificates 
at  county  and  city  examinations,  would  continue 
their  education  through  the  high  school  and  the 
normal  school,  thus  increasing  the  number  of  normal 
school  graduates,  and  at  the  same  time  securing 
much  better  prepared  teachers.     True,  those  who 


18  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

wish  to  make  the  professon  of  teaching  a  temporary 
business,  those  who  look  upon  it  as  the  stepping 
stone  to  some  other  profession  and  upon  children  as 
fit  subjects  for  experimentation,  will,  perhaps,  offer 
vigorous  objections  to  what  they  may  be  pleased  to 
term  the  proposed  innovations  in  the  certification  of 
teachers.  I  believe,  however,  that  the  proper  educa- 
tion of  the  children  who  are  attending  the  public 
schools  is  of  more  vital  importance  to  the  welfare  of 
society  than  the  success  of  a  few  individuals. 
Furthermore,  the  fact  that  an  ambitious  young  man 
or  young  woman  were  prevented  for  a  few  years 
from  teaching  would  be  only  a  temporary  check  to 
the  possible  realization  of  his  or  her  ambitions. 

One  of  the  strong  features  of  the  proposed  method 
of  certificating  teachers  is  placing  the  control  and 
management  of  the  educational  side  of  the  state 
normal  schools  and  the  issuing  of  teachers'  certifi- 
cates in  the  hands  of  educators,  where  they  right- 
fully belong.  Not  only  should  politics  be  eradicated 
from  the  control  and  management  of  the  state  nor- 
mal schools,  and  the  granting  of  teachers'  certifi- 
cates; but,  if  possible,  it  should  be  eradicated  from 
the  selection  of  teachers  in  all  public  schools.  Those 
who  are  sincerely  anxious  to  see  the  standard  of 
efficiency  of  our  teaching  force  raised  should  re- 
member that  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  alarming 
dangers  threatening  the  ability  and  qualifications  of 
the  teaching  force  to-day  is  politics.  In  innumer- 
able instances  in  this  state  at  the  present  time  the 
selection  of  a  teacher  depends  upon  his  or  her  poli- 
tics. Will,  or  will  not  his  selection  advance  the 
interests  of  this  or  that  man  for  some  school  office? 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  1S» 

If  the  voters  of  this  and  other  states  do  not  see  to  it 
that  a  teacher's  politics  shall  have  nothing  to  do 
with  his  or  her  selection  as  a  teacher,  then  we  are  in 
truth  helpless,  because  men  and  women  of  ability 
cannot  be  induced  to  enter  the  profession  of  teach- 
ing if  their  employment  is  to  depend  upon  the  pre- 
cariousness  of  party  politics.  Any  man  or  woman, 
whether  republican,  populist,  or  democrat;  whether 
protestant,  catholic,  infidel,  or  atheist,  or  what  not, 
who  insists  that  an  applicant  for  the  position  of 
teacher  shall  be  questioned  as  to  his  or  her  politics 
or  religion,  is  acting,  whether  he  thinks  so  or  not,  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  best  interests  of  our  public 
school  sj^stem.  We  are  not  agreed  upon  politics,  we 
are  not  agreed  upon  religion,  but  our  public  school 
system  is  not  the  proper  institution  to  advance  the 
political  or  religious  ideas  of  any  man  or  woman. 

While  the  personality  of  the  teacher  is  of  para- 
mount importance,  it  cannot  be  certificated.  Ex- 
perience must  largely  determine  whether  a  person  is 
naturally  adapted  for  teaching.  The  requirements 
for  teachers'  certificates  outlined  above  would,  how- 
ever, weed  out  those  who  are  plainly  unfit  for  the 
prof esson  of  teaching.  Few  would  be  able  to  secure 
diplomas  of  graduation  from  the  normal  schools  who 
did  not  possess  qualities  fairly  indicative  of  a  good 
teacher.  The  character  of  a  student  as  portrayed 
by  his  daily  outward  life,  as  well  as  his  mental 
ability,  should  be  taken  into  consideration  in  the 
granting  of  diplomas  on  which  teachers'  certificates 
must  be  issued.  Those  whose  characters  plainly 
unfit  them  for  teaching  would  very  likely  commit 
some  act  that  would  come  to  the  attention  of  the 


20  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

faculty  of  the  institution  which  they  were  attending. 
At  least,  fewer  undesirable  characters  would  secure 
teachers'  certificates  under  the  proposed  method  of 
certificating  teachers  than  under  the  present  one. 
The  moral  atmosphere  of  the  normal  schools  would 
be  beneficial.  Good,  thorough  work  under  teachers 
of  ability,  character  and  independence  tends  to 
strengthen  the  character  of  students  and  to  impress 
on  them  the  responsibility  of  the  profession  of  teach- 
ing. The  members  of  the  normal  school  faculties 
would  no  longer  owe  their  positions  to  politics,  and 
this  would  give  an  upward  tendency  to  the  tone  of 
normal  school  work  in  all  its  varied  phases.  The 
supervision  of  the  normal  school  work,  and  selection 
of  normal  school  teachers,  would  be  in  the  hands  of 
educators  and  not  in  the  hands  of  politicians. 

While  speaking  of  the  personality  of  the  teacher, 
it  might  be  well  to  remind  those  who  are  advocating 
the  extensive  teaching  in  the  elementary  schools  of 
what  they  are  pleased  to  term  the  humane  studies 
that  the  moral  and  humane  character  training  which 
a  pupil  receives  from  his  school  life  depends  but 
very  little  on  the  nature  of  the  studies  which  he  pur- 
sues, but  does  depend  to  a  large  extent  upon  the 
character  and  individuality  of  the  teacher.  The 
actual,  active,  outward  life,  much  more  than  the  be- 
liefs or  precepts  of  the  teacher  or  the  nature  of  the 
studies,  is  what  influences  the  growing  mind.  A 
teacher  with  a  strong  and  inspiring  mental  and 
moral  individuality  will  leave  an  impress  for  good 
on  the  character  of  his  pupils,  no  matter  what  sub- 
jects he  may  teach;  and  a  teacher  without  these 
qualities  will  not  leave  an  impress  for  good  on  the 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTION,"^.  21 

character  of  his  pupils,  no  matter  what  subjects  he 
Diay  teach.  It  is  the  individuality  and  character  of 
the  teacher,  and  not  the  nature  of  the  studies,  that 
should  be  taken  into  account  when  the  moral  and 
humane  training  of  a  child  in  the  school  room  is 
under  consideration. 

Hand  in  hand  with  the  raising  of  the  requirements 
for  teachers'  certificates  there  should  be  a  united 
effort  made,  not  only  to  check  the  present  downward 
tendency  of  teachers'  salaries,  but  to  secure  an  in- 
crease in  the  teachers'  compensation.  The  tendency 
to  low^er  teachers'  salaries  must  be  checked  or  it  wall 
cripple  the  public  schools  because  it  strikes  at  the 
very  heart  of  the  public  school  system.  Men  and 
women  of  ability  will  not  enter  the  profession  of 
teaching  if  they  are  required  to  devote  six  or  seven 
years  of  their  lives  after  they  graduate  from  the 
grammar  school,  in  preparation,  and  then  receive 
but  a  small  compensation  for  their  services. 

The  vast  majority  of  teachers  teach  but  eight 
months  in  the  year.  It  is  almost  impossible  for 
them  to  obtain  other  employment  during  the  other 
four  months.  Furthermore,  they  need  several 
months  for  recreation  and  for  improvement  in  their 
profession.  Many  teachers,  in  fact,  attend  a  sum- 
mer school  for  one  or  two  months  each  year.  It 
makes  no  difference  how  economical  a  teacher  may 
be,  he  will  find  when  he  begins  his  year's  school 
work  that  he  will  have  but  little  to  lay  aside  for  old 
age  from  his  previous  year's  salary,  even  if  he  has 
received  seventy-five  dollars  a  month. 

Trustees  make  a  vital  mistake  when  they  advocate 
the  lowering  of  their  teacher's  salary.     The  children 


22  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

of  a  district  will  receive  more  benefit  from  their 
school  work  if  they  attend  school  seven  months  in  a 
year  under  a  good  teacher  who  is  receiving  a  fair 
salary  than  if  they  attend  for  eight  months  under  a 
poor  teacher  who  is  receiving  a  smaller  salary. 
Better  a  seven  month's  school  with  an  efficient 
teacher  than  an  eight  month's  school  with  an  ineffi- 
cient one.  It  is  assumed,  of  course,  that  no  teacher 
would  underbid  another  in  order  to  secure  a  position. 
Efficiency  alone  should  invariably  be  the  test  in  the 
employment  of  teachers. 

On  the  question  of  teachers'  salaries,  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  made  the  following  remark:  "There  is  no 
profession  so  exacting,  none  that  breaks  down  so 
early  as  that  of  faithful  teaching;  and  there  is  no 
economy  so  penurious,  and  no  policy  so  intolerably 
mean,  as  that  by  which  the  custodians  of  public 
affairs  screw  down  to  the  starvation  point  the  small 
wages  of  men  and  women  who  are  willing  to  devote 
their  time  and  strength  to  teaching  the  young.  In 
political  movements  thousands  of  dollars  can  be 
squandered,  but  for  the  teaching  of  the  children  of 
the  people  the  cheapest  teachers  must  be  had,  and 
their  pay  must  be  reduced  whenever  a  reduction  of 
expenses  is  necessary.  If  salaries  ever  should  be 
ample,  it  is  in  the  profession  of  school  teaching.  If 
there  is  one  place  where  we  ought  to  induce  people 
to  make  their  profession  a  life  business,  it  is  in  the 
teaching  of  schools." 

Another  condition  that  must  be  brought  about  in 
order  that  more  men  and  women  of  ability  may  be 
induced  to  enter  the  profession  of  teaching  is  the 
assurance  that  thev  will  be  able  to  retain  a  school 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  23 

position  once  secured,  as  long  as  they  do  good,  effi- 
cient work.  So  long  as  a  teacher's  position  depends 
on  the  whim  of  a  new  board  of  trustees  or  on  a  new 
board  of  education  that  has  some  friend  it  wishes 
to  accommodate,  or  that  feels  it  must  give  away  to 
the  influential  pressure  brought  to  bear  in  favor  of 
some  one's  else  friend,  so  long  will  men  and  women 
of  ability  be  deterred  from  deliberately  choosing 
teaching  as  a  profession.  The  teacher  must  have 
some  assurance  that  he  can  retain  a  position  as  long 
as  he  does  good  work,  and  that  he  will  not  be  com- 
pelled to  hunt  up  a  new  position  at  the  end  of  each 
school  year. 

How  this  condition  can  be  brought  about  at  the 
present  time  with  safety  to  school  interests,  I  do  not 
know.  Greater  care  in  the  certification  of  teach- 
ers is  one  long  step  toward  making  this  condi- 
tion possible.  If  all  those  who  held  certificates  were 
good  teachers,  it  would  be  safe  to  pass  a  law  pre- 
venting the  removal  of  teachers  except  for  good 
cause,  which  cause  must  be  duly  proven.  Some  have 
suggested  that  the  power  of  appointing  teachers  be 
taken  away  from  boards  of  school  trustees  and 
boards  of  education,  and  given  to  school  superin- 
tendents who  are  better  qualified  to  judge  in  such 
matters.  This  would  be  a  good  and  efficient  plan 
provided  school  superintendents  are  well  qualified 
for  the  duties  of  the  position  which  they  occupy,  and 
will  conscientiously  perform  their  duties.  This 
plan,  however,  must  be  pronounced  unsafe  until 
there  is  a  high  qualification  required  for  the  posi- 
tion of  school  superintendent,  and  the  election  of 
superintendents  is  removed  from  the  domain  of  poli- 


24  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

tics.  To  place  the  selection  and  removal  of  teachers 
in  the  hands  of  an  upright  and  able  superintendent, 
would  be  the  best  solution  of  the  question;  but  the 
selection  of  the  superintendent  would  then  become 
a  question  of  prime  importance. 

The  solution  of  the  question  of  securing  to  the 
teacher  the  assurance  of  a  permanent  position  as 
long  as  he  does  good  and  efficient  work  belongs  to 
the  future,  but  it  must  be  solved  before  the  efficiency 
of  the  public  school  system  is  placed  on  a  secure 
foundation. 


RELATION    OF    THE    UNIVERSITY    TO 
THE    COURSES    OF   STUDY   IN 
ELEMENTARY   AND    SEC- 
ONDARY SCHOOLS.* 


There  seems  to  be  a  growing  tendency  in  this 
state  to  accuse  those  who  are  responsible  for  the 
present  school  system  with  having  perfected  a  sys- 
tem at  the  expense  of  the  school  children,  instead  of 
having  created  a  system  which  would  assist  the  vast 
majority  of  boys  and  girls  to  secure  the  best  possible 
preparation  for  their  life's  work,  which  they  could 
reasonably  expect  to  secure  in  their  present  circum- 
stances. An  examination  of  the  school  system  of 
the  state,  which  takes  into  consideration  the  rela- 
tive value  of  many  of  the  studies  taught  in  the 
elementary  and  secondary  schools,  would  seem  to 
indicate  that  this  accusation  rests  on  a  pretty  secure 
foundation. 

The  qualifications  for  admission  to  the  universi- 
ties of  the  United  States  vary,  and  are  determined 
by  the  authorities  of  each  university.  Formerly  the 
faculties  of  the  universities,  in  laying  dovv^n  the 
qualifications  for  admission,  were  governed,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  by  the  qualifications  of  high 


*  The  discussion  on  this  subject,  with  slight  modification, 
was  first  issued  by  the  author  in  November,  1897,  under  the 
head  of  • '  A  Pedagogical  Question. ' ' 


26  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTtONS. 

school  graduates;  but  in  recent  years,  the  largely 
endowed  universities  of  the  East  and  the  state  uni- 
versities of  the  West  are  more  and  more  inclined  to 
set  a  standard  of  admission  and  to  compel  the  high 
schools  to  conform  to  this  standard.  As  a  rule, 
those  who  have  authority  over  the  high  schools  lay 
out  the  high  school  courses  with  this  object  in  view 
— in  fact,  the  California  state  law  requires  them  to 
do  so.  The  grammar  schools  in  turn  are  compelled 
to  prescribe,  or  at  least  they  do  prescribe,  a  course 
of  work  which  seems  to  have  admission  to  the  high 
school  for  its  ultimate  object. 

This  graded  system  of  education,  extending  as  it 
does  from  the  kindergarten  to  the  technical  schools 
beyond  the  university,  is  an  admirable  system,  pro- 
vided the  prescribed  course  of  grammar  school  work 
which  has  for  its  main  object  entrance  into  the  high 
school,  and  the  prescribed  course  of  high  school 
work  which  has  for  its  main  object  entrance  into  the 
university  are  the  best  courses  to  make  good  citizens 
of  the  95  per  cent,  of  the  school  children  who  never 
go  beyond  the  high  school  and  of  the  90  per  cent, 
who  never  go  beyond  the  grammar  school.  But  are 
the  conditions  of  this  proviso  true?  In  so  far  as 
California  is  concerned  it  would  seem  not;  and  if 
not,  then  in  so  far  as  the  vast  majority  of  the  school 
children  are  concerned,  they  exist  for  the  public 
school  system  and  it  does  not  exist  for  them. 

The  object  of  the  public  school  system  is  to  assist 
in  the  creation  of  good  citizens  and  in  the  creation  of 
higher  and  purer  ideals  of  citizenship.  It  will,  no 
doubt,  be  generally  conceded,  that  a  good  citizen  is 
one  who,  aside  from  the  abstract  knowledge  which 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  27 

he  may  obtain  in  the  grammar  school,  the  high 
schools,  and  the  university,  or  by  his  own  efforts, 
has,  tirst,  the  power  to  make  a  comfortable  living 
for  himself,  and  in  time  to  raise  and  properly  sup- 
port a  family;  and  second,  one  who  is  patriotic,  not 
merely  in  the  sense  of  hurrahing  for  the  flag  (which 
is  all  very  good  in  its  way),  but  patriotic  in  the 
sense  of  having  an  intelligent  love  for  our  institu- 
tions, based,  as  such  patriotism  must  be,  on  the 
knowledge  of  their  cost  to  the  human  race;  and 
lastly,  a  good  citizen  is  one  who  has  the  ability  to 
better  the  economic  and  social  conditions  of  society. 
In  other  words,  three  of  the  requisites  of  a  good  citi- 
zen consist  in  the  power  to  make  himself  self-sup- 
porting, independent;  in  a  willingness  to  foster  our 
institutions;  and  in  the  ability  substantially  to  bet- 
ter them  when  possible.  In  preparing  a  boy  or  a 
girl  for  citizenship  the  public  schools  are,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  deficient  in  all  of  these 
requsites. 

While  it  will  be  willingly  conceded  that  the  para- 
mount object  of  education  is  mind  training,  it  does 
not  follow  that  so  long  as  this  is  accomplished  it 
makes  little  or  no  difference  whether  a  student  re- 
members much  or  little  of  what  he  has  studied  dur- 
ing his  school  life.  That  the  school  life  of  a  boy  or 
girl  should  be  mostly  devoted  to  pursuing  those 
studies  which  will  be  of  little  use  in  after  life,  is  not 
only  manifestly  unnecessary,  but  is  wrong  both 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  individual  and  of  society. 
Every  student  who  completes  the  work  in  the  high 
school  should  have  devoted  a  part  of  his  time,  while 
in  said  school,  to  some  line  of  work  that  will  directly 


28  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

assist  him  in  making  a  living,  without  regard  to 
whether  or  not  his  present  circumstances  indicate 
the  necessity  for  so  doing.  Our  educational  system 
should  keep  this  object  constantly  in  view,  and  its 
attainment  should  be  made  as  important  as  the 
logical  training  of  the  mind. 

Every  high  school  should  contain  a  good  business 
course.  The  high  school  that  does  not  provide 
facilities  which  will  enable  its  students  to  secure  a 
good  commercial  training,  is  not  doing  what  it 
ought  to  do.  The  following,  taken  from  an  address 
delivered  by  James  A.  Garfield  before  the  students 
of  the  Spencerian  Business  College,  Washington, 
D.  C,  June  29,  1869,  is  directly  to  point: 

^^But  there  was  a  reason  of  public  policy  which 
brought  me  here  to-night;  and  it  was  to  testify  to 
the  importance  of  these  business  colleges,  and  to 
give  two  or  three  reasons  why  they  have  been  es- 
tablished in  the  United  States.  I  wish  every  col- 
lege president  in  the  United  States  could  hear  the 
first  reason  I  proi)Ose  to  give.  Business  colleges^  my 
fellow-citizens,  originated  in  this  cauntry  as  a  protest 
against  the  insufficiency  of  our  system  of  education, — as  a 
protest  against  the  failure,  the  absolute  failure,  of  our 
American  schools  and  colleges  to  fit  young  men  and  women 
for  the  business  of  life.  Take  the  great  classes  gradu- 
ated from  the  leading  colleges  of  the  country  during 
this  and  the  next  month,  and  how  many,  or,  rather, 
how  few,  of  their  members  are  fitted  to  go  into  the 
practical  business  of  life,  and  transact  it  like  sensi- 
ble men!  These  business  colleges  furnish  their 
graduates  with  a  better  education  for  practical  pur- 
poses than  Princeton,  Harvard,  or  Yale." 


EDUCATIONAL    QUE8TI02<S.  29 

Polytechnic  work  should  be  introduced  into  the 
high  school  courses  of  study,  and  pupils  should  be 
required  to  take  up  some  phase  of  this  work.  Such 
a  course  would  result  in  securing  to  the  pupil  some 
ability  and  knowledge  of  practical  use  to  him  in 
after  years,  and  would  teach  him  self-reliance  and  a 
respect  for  honest  labor.  On  this  point  Professor 
Addicott  says: 

''Any  earnest  student  of  the  times  must  see  the 
necessity  for  wider  knowledge,  for  a  more  varied 
education,  for  a  stronger  self-reliance,  and  for  a 
greater  power  of  self-help  and  determination  than 
have  been  given  by  old  methods  of  education.  The 
inhabitants  of  the  civilized  world  are  increasing 
rapidly;  competition  is  becoming  keener  and  closer. 
There  is  a  demand  for  an  education  that  not  only 
gives  scholarship  but  prepares  for  citizenship  in  rela- 
tion to  life  work.  We  have  had  much  trouble  be- 
cause of  workers  who  will  not  think;  we  may  have 
more  serious  difficulty  with  the  thinkers  who  will 
not  work." 

In  addition  to  the  omission  of  manual  training 
and  polytechnic  work,  the  secondary  schools,  in  or- 
der to  meet  the  university  requirements  in  other  sub- 
jects, must  neglect  historical  and  economic  science. 
In  most  counties  but  two  years  are  devoted  to 
American  history,  and  those  two  years  are  in  the 
grammar  grades  and  consist  mainly  in  a  mere  pro- 
cess of  memory.  Except  in  about  half  a  dozen 
secondary  schools,  economic  science  has  no  placo 
whatever  in  the  secondary  school  curriculum  of  the 
state.  The  courses  which  give  prominence  to  his- 
torical and  economical  science  are  not  chosen  by  the 


30  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

pupil,  because  other  courses  better  meet  the  require- 
ments for  admisison  to  the  university. 

This  defective  work  or  rather  lack  of  work  in  the 
secondary  schools  in  historical  and  economic  science 
is  most  lamentable.  There  is  no  better  preparation 
for  citizenship  than  a  good  knowledge  of  our  politi- 
cal and  historical  institutions.  A  republic  is  safe  as 
long  as  its  citizens  comprehend  the  meaning  of 
liberty  as  embodied  in  its  institutions;  but  to  value 
liberty  they  must  understand  the  nature  and  history 
of  those  institutions.  The  cheap  politician  and  the 
demagogue  will  not  lose  their  occupations  until  vot- 
ers know  enough  about  our  institutions  to  detect  the 
false  in  their  statements,  and  to  see  that  their  con- 
tentions are  impractical,  leading  inevitably  to  disas- 
ter and  ruin.  When  the  voter  is  well  grounded  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  growth  of  our  institutions,  he  will 
bring  to  the  ballot  box  and  force  into  public  life 
generally  a  respect  for  honest  labor  and  an  intelli- 
gent civic  virtue — ideas  which  he  will  derive  from 
studying  the  lives  of  the  men  who  have  made  our 
institutions  what  they  are.  A  boy  or  girl  cannot 
read  and  study  the  lives  of  such  men  as  Jackson  and 
Lincoln  and  Garfield  without  having  his  respect  for 
labor,  honesty  and  civic  virtue  increased.  The  boy 
who  has  for  his  ideal  one  of  the  great  men  in  our 
history  will  be  very  apt,  when  he  becomes  a  man,  to 
spurn  as  an  insult  to  his  manhood  the  attempt  of  a 
corporation  or  a  politician  to  control  his  vote.  We 
should  constantly  direct  the  young  mind  to  the  lives 
of  the  men  who  have  made  this  nation  what  it  is ;  to 
keep  alive  the  old  spirit  of  true  Americanism — the 
spirit  that  respects  honest  labor  and  civic  virtue. 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  31 

and  detests  snobbishness  of  all  kinds.  The  great 
men  of  our  nation  have  risen  from  the  lower  ranEs 
and  they  will  continue  to  do  so,  because  it  takes 
opposition  and  struggle  to  bring  out  the  best  there  is 
in  a  man.  It  will  be  a  regretable  and  dangerous 
condition  for  this  nation  if  ever  our  boys  and  our 
girls  do  not  admire  and  honor  the  Lincoln  who 
studied  by  the  light  of  the  fireplace,  the  Garfield 
who  towed  the  canal  boat,  and  the  Jackson  who 
worked  for  a  daily  wage. 

One  phase  of  the  social  question  would  seem  to 
demand  for  its  intelligent  solution  some  specific 
knowledge  of  economic  and  social  science.  This 
question  in  its  narrowest  form  is  the  socialization  of 
public  monopolies  and  the  suppression  of  trusts. 
That  this  question  of  socialism  is  a  present  political 
issue,  cannot  be  denied;  that  it  will  yearly  become 
of  more  importance,  and  press  for  a  final  solution, 
is  to  be  expected.  Whatever  our  personal  opinions 
upon  these  social  and  economic  questions  may  be, 
we  must  all  agree  that  one  of  the  most  important 
duties  of  our  public  school  system  is  to  prepare  the 
citizen  for  their  intelligent  consideration,  for  upon 
their  rightful  solution  may  depend  the  future  of  this 
republic.  This  preparation  for  citizenship  can  be 
accomplished,  at  least  to  some  extent,  by  having  the 
student  pursue  a  course  in  economic  and  social 
science  in  the  secondary  schools.  Good  text  books 
have  been  especially  prepared  for  this  work  in  the 
secondary  schools,  and  there  is  no  longer  excuse  for 
its  neglect. 

If  manual  training,  polytechnic  work,  and  better 
courses   in  historical   and  economic   science   were 


32  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

added  to  the  curricula  of  secondary  schools,  and 
foreign  languages  and  some  of  the  higher  mathe- 
matics, now  taught,  were  omitted,  the  number  of 
pupils  in  these  schools  would  soon  be  largely  in- 
creased. At  the  present  time,  when  you  ask  the 
father  and  mother  to  send  their  boy  or  girl  to^  the 
high  school,  you  are  often  met  by  the  remark  that 
they  do  not  see  that  their  child  will  receive  much 
benefit  from  the  studies  taught  there.  We  cannot 
but  admit  that  we  always  feel  ourselves  at  a  dis- 
advantage when  called  upon  to  answer  this  question. 
We  try  to  explain  that  the  value  lies  in  the  mental 
training  that  they  receive.  This  is  all  very  true,  as 
far  as  it  goes,  but  the  father  and  mother  demand, 
and  justly,  that  the  four  years  devoted  to  the  high 
school  work  should  be  of  more  practical  benefit  to 
their  child.  Once  convince  parents  that  the  high 
school  work  tends  directly  to  qualify  their  child  for 
the  practical  duties  of  life,  and  it  is  more  than  prob- 
able that  within  a  few  years  the  high  schools  will  be 
thronged  with  students. 

There  are  university  professors,  of  course,  who 
will  object  to  this  proposed  change  in  the  high 
school  work  as  an  innovation  calculated  to  dis- 
arrange the  present  connection  between  high  schools 
and  the  university.  It  might  be  well  to  remind 
these  professors  that  the  elementary  and  secondary 
schools  are  supported  by  the  taxpayers  for  the  pur- 
pose of  preparing  the  95  per  cent,  of  boys  and  girls 
who  never  go  beyond  the  high  school  for  the  actual 
duties  of  life,  and  not  for  the  purpose  of  preparing 
less  than  5  per  cent,  for  admission  to  the  university. 

But  there  is  no  real  conflict  between  practical 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  33 

work  in  the  high  school,  and  preparation  for  uni- 
versity work.  It  is  an  imaginary  conflict,  having  its 
birth  in  the  false  ideas  of  university  authorities. 
University  authorities  maintain  that  high  school 
graduates  should  have  acquired  a  certain  amount  of 
knowledge  of  certain  subjects,  whereas  the  prime 
qualification  that  should  be  demanded  of  an  appli- 
cant for  admission  to  the  university  is  mental  power 
to  do  work  required.  In  the  Languages  and 
Sciences,  university  work  should  begin  at  the  bot- 
tom^ leaving  the  high  school  free  to  arrange  a  course 
of  study  that  would  be  complete  within  itself  and 
that  would  best  prepare  for  their  life's  work  the  vast 
majority  of  high  school  students  who  never  enter  a 
university.  Under  the  present  system  high  school 
students  are  required  to  take  the  beginning  of  a 
number  of  subjects,  which  they  cannot  pursue  far, 
and  the  smattering  knowledge  of  which  they  cannot 
use.  All  grammar  school  courses  and  all  high 
school  courses  should  lead  to  complete  and  definite 
results.  The  vast  majority  of  tax-payers  whose  y. 
children  never  enter  a  university  have  a  right  to  de-X 
mand  this,  and  the  power  of  the  university  authori- 
ties to  deny  it  should  be  abolished. 

To  take  from  the  university  the  power  to  dictate 
courses  of  study  for  the  high  school  means  not  to 
abolish  the  present  system  of  accrediting  high 
schools,  but  to  shift  the  basis  upon  which  high 
schools  are  accredited.  Instead  of  requiring  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  work  in  certain  subjects,  the  uni- 
versities will  send  their  professors  into  the  high 
schools  of  the  state  to  examine  the  work  being  done, 
and  to  decide  whether  said  work  is  a   sufficient 


34  EDUGATIOI^^AL     QUESTIONS. 

mental  preparation  for  university  work.  If  any- 
thing, this  method  would  be  an  added  stimulus  for 
thorough  work  in  the  high  school,  though  said  work 
would  be  directed  along  more  practical  lines. 

There  need  be  no  lack  of  system  between  the 
kindergarten  and  the  technical  schools  beyond  the 
university,  but  that  system  should  not  sacrifice  the 
interests  of  at  least  95  per  cent,  of  the  school  chil- 
dren of  the  state  in  order  to  prepare  the  few  for  ad- 
mission to  the  university.  The  best  possible  prepa- 
ration for  life's  work  that  the  grammar  school  can 
give  ought  to  be  good  preparation  for  high  school 
work;  and  the  best  possible  preparation  for  life's 
work  that  the  high  school  can  give  ought  to  be  good 
preparation  for  university  work.  If  this  be  not  true, 
the  conditions  for  admission  to  the  high  school,  and 
the  conditions  for  admission  to  the  university,  ought 
to  be  changed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  mental  dis- 
cipline derived  from  thorough  work  in  the  grammar 
school  and  from  thorough  work  in  the  high  school  is 
the  best  preparation  for  university  work.  The 
power  to  reason  and  think  logically,  and  the  ability 
to  express  thoughts,  orally  or  in  writing,  with  force 
and  clearness  are  the  requisites  that  the  university 
should  require  of  all  applicants  for  admission  and 
not  a  smattering  knowledge  of  the  beginnings  of 
some  of  the  subjects  taught  in  the  university. 


COURSES  OF  STUDY  IN  THE  ELEMEN 
TARY   SCHOOLS.* 


Perhaps  the  most  serious  question  which  is 
pressing  for  a  solution  in  connection  with  element- 
ary school  work,  is  the  congested  course  of  study. 

Those  who  are  making  a  close  study  of  the  ques- 
tion of  grammar  school  ^'scattering"  are  being  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  there  has  been  in  the  past  and 
is  at  the  present  time  a  strong  and  unwise  tendency 
toward  crowding  too  many  subjects  into  the  gram- 
mar course  of  study.  The  result  of  this  policy  has 
been  hopelessly  to  cripple  the  efficiency  of  grammar 
school  work — it  has  made  thoroughness  in  any  sub- 
ject impossible. 

In  treating  this  subject,  it  will,  perhaps,  add  some- 
thing of  clearness  to  separate  it  into  three  general 
divisions:  First,  Cause  of  Overcrowding;  Second, 
Injurious  Results;   Third,  The  Remedy. 

I.     CAUSE  OF  OVERCROWDING. 

For  the  present,  at  least,  we  shall  assume  the 
overcrowding,  which  is,  indeed,  self-evident,  and 
pass  at  once  to  the  consideration  of  the  cause. 


*(Note:  The  course  of  study  herein  outlined  was  first 
published  by  the  author  in  February,  1898,  under  the  head 
of  "  Our  Grammar  School  Curriculum."  It  was  adopted  by 
the  Kern  County  Board  of  Education  July  27th,  1899;  is  now 
In  effect  in  this  county,  and  is  producing-  most  excellent  re- 
sults.) 


36  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

The  overcrowding  of  our  grammar  school  curri- 
culum is  largely  due  to  university  and  academic  pro- 
fessors. They  have  devoted  most  of  their  time  to 
the  study  and  teaching  of  some  special  subject. 
They  have  specialized  and  therefore  have  become 
specialists.  When  one  becomes  a  specialist,  he 
usually  unduly  emphasizes  his  specialty,  uncon- 
sciously making  other  subjects,  other  lines  of  activ- 
ity, assume  a  position  subordinate.  His  special 
subject  becomes  the  central  one  around  which  the 
others  group  themselves,  and  for  which  they  exist. 
The  mathematician  becomes  thoroughly  convinced 
that  mathematics  is  the  best  mental  drill  and  that 
therefore  the  study  of  mathematics  is  the  best  prep- 
aration for  life's  work;  the  naturalist  tells  us  that 
the  study  of  nature  is  one  of  the  most  essential  fac- 
tors in  education,  and  therefore,  that  every  boy  and 
girl  should  be  compelled  to  devote  more  time  to  the 
study  of  nature  than  at  present;  the  professor  of 
English  is  certain  that  the  one  great  defect  in  our 
educational  system  is  the  failure  to  give  to  the  study 
of  English  the  importance  which  it  deserves;  while 
the  professor  of  the  dead  languages  would  rather 
have  his  student  alive  to  Greek  and  Latin  even 
though  dead  to  the  sciences,  whether  economic,  me- 
chanical, political,  social  or  natural. 

If  the  specialist  would  restrict  his  efforts  to  mak- 
ing the  department  over  which  he  presides  as  strong 
as  possible,  he  would  not  directly  afCect  our  gram- 
mar school  curriculum.  But  being  a  sincere  and 
withal  a  zealous  man,  and  believing  the  best  inter- 
ests of  education  demand  that  his  special  subject  be 
given  a  more  important  place  in  the  grammar  and 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  37 

high  school  curricula,  he  writes  for  the  educational 
journals,  he  goes  to  the  state  normals,  the  state 
teachers'  association,  the  county  teachers'  institutes, 
and  to  the  county  and  city  boards  of  education,  and 
everywhere  urges,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  the 
pressing  need  and  manifold  advantage  of  greater 
devotion  to  his  special  subject.  Being  a  man  who 
holds  an  important  position  in  the  educational 
world,  and  one  who  thoroughly  understands  his 
subject,  and  one  who  is  therefore  able  to  present  it 
in  the  best  possible  light,  he  makes  converts  not 
only  among  teachers,  but  among  members  of  the 
county  and  city  boards  of  education.  The  result  is 
our  present  inefficient  and  overcrowded  grammar 
grade  course. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  far  some  of  these 
specialists  will  go  when  recommending  changes  in 
our  grammar  grade  courses  which  they  deem  neces- 
sary and  desirable  from  the  standpoint  of  their  spe- 
cial subjects. 

In  July,  1892,  at  Saratoga,  New  York,  the  Na- 
tional Educational  Association  appointed  a  commit- 
tee consisting  of  ten  members — afterwards  known 
as  the  "Committee  of  Ten" — to  formulate  some  plan 
that  would  bring  about  "uniformity  in  school  pro 
grams  and  requirements  for  admission  to  college.'' 
This  committee  selected  a  sub-committee  of  ten  for 
each  principal  subject  taught  in  our  grammar  and 
high  schools — as,  for  example,  history,  mathematics, 
science,  etc.  Of  course,  each  member  of  these  sub- 
committees was  a  specialist  in  the  subject  assigned 
him.  One  of  the  duties  of  each  of  these  committees 
was  to  decide  how  much  of  the  student's  time  in  the 


38  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

grammar  school,  and  the  high  school,  should  be  de- 
voted to  the  subject  which  that  special  committee 
had  under  consideration.  Some  of  the  recommenda- 
tions for  the  grammar  grade  work  were  as  follows: 
The  committee  on  mathematics  recommended  that 
concrete  geometry  and  algebra  be  taught  in  the 
grammar  grades;  the  one  on  political  science,  that 
one-eighth  of  the  grammar  school  work  should  be 
devoted  to  that  subject;  the  one  on  natural  history, 
that  one  hour  per  week  throughout  the  entire  gram- 
mar school  course  should  be  devoted  to  natural  his- 
tory; the  one  on  physics  and  chemistry,  that  one 
period  per  day  should  be  devoted  to  those  subjects; 
the  one  on  Latin,  that  the  grammar  school  work 
should  be  made  one  year  shorter  so  as  to  have  one 
year  more  for  Latin  in  the  high  school;  and  the 
committee  on  French  and  German  has  the  following 
to  say:  "In  the  grammar  grades  we  recommend 
that  during  the  first  year  five  recitation  periods  per 
week  be  given  to  the  modern  languages;  during  the 
second,  at  least  four;  and  during  each  of  the  other 
two  years,  at  least  three." 

Needless  to  say,  no  city  or  county  board  of  educa- 
tion has  ever  carried  out  all  of  the  above  recom- 
mendations, but  some  have  carried  them  out  to  such 
an  extent  as  to  make  the  grammar  school  work  a 
burden  both  to  the  teacher  and  to  the  pupil. 

Specialization  is  a  good  thing.  No  one  will  ques- 
tion that  it  is  better  to  do  one  thing  well  than  to  half 
do  a  number  of  things.  But  when  the  specialist 
asks  the  grammar  grade  pupil  to  specialize  along  a 
number  of  lines  at  the  same  time — when  it  is  ex- 
pected that  he  be  a  "universal  specialist*' — that  is 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.        ^  39 

simply  asking  the  impossible.  I,  for  one,  think  it  is 
time  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  advocates  of  further 
extension,  and  to  revert,  at  least  to  some  extent,  to 
the  sturdier  though  simpler  ways  of  our  forefathers. 

II.     INJURIOUS  RESULTS. 

At  the  present  time  in  California,  there  are  very 
few  grammar  school  graduates  who  have  a  definite 
and  thorough  knowledge  of  any  subject.  This  state- 
ment is  a  very  severe  indictment  to  prefer  against 
our  much  lauded  grammar  school  system  and  will, 
no  doubt,  meet  with  a  ready  challenge.  Recogniz- 
ing the  seriousness  of  the  charge,  I  have  hesitated  to 
make  it,  and  have  been  constrained  to  do  so  only 
after  an  extensive  correspondence  and  consultation 
with  the  leading  educators  of  this  state.  With 
scarcely  an  exception,  these  instructors  declare  that 
the  large  majority  of  the  grammar  school  graduates 
have  no  clear,  definite,  or  logical  knowledge  of  the 
subjects  which  they  have  studied,  but  are  often 
nothing  more  than  mere  machines. 

If  any  one  is  disposed  to  question  the  correctness 
of  the  above  statement  let  him  examine  a  class 
which  has  just  been  graduated  from  the  grammar 
schools  of  this  state.  Any  one  that  will  take  the 
trouble  to  do  this  will  not  be  long  in  discovering 
that  the  average  grammar  school  graduate  is  unable 
to  analyze  and  correctly  interpret  a  simple  piece  of 
English  literature,  to  trace  logically  the  growth  of 
a  single  one  of  our  institutions,  to  give  a  clear  state- 
ment of  the  causes  of  any  of  the  wars  of  the  United 
States,  or  to  explain  what  the  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities of  American  citizenship  mean.     He  will  dis- 


40  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

cover,  moreover,  that  the  average  grammar  school 
graduate's  knowledge  of  his  mother  tongue  consists 
in  his  ability  to  name  and  parse  the  different  parts 
of  speech  and  to  rattle  off  rules,  and  that  it  does  not 
consist  in  the  ability  to  talk  correctly  or  to  reduce 
correctly  his  thoughts  to  writing — the  tv/o  sole  ob- 
jects for  which  grammar  is  supposed  to  be  studied. 
He  will  discover,  also,  that  but  very  few  of  those 
whom  he  examines  will  be  able  to  demonstrate  that 
they  understand  the  fundamental  principles  of  mul- 
tiplication, division,  fractions,  percentage,  or  any  of 
the  most  fundamental  operations  of  mathematics. 
Most  of  those  examined  may,  and  probably  will,  be 
able  to  solve  some  problems  similar  to  those  which 
they  have  been  accustomed  to  solving.  A  recently 
invented  machine  can  do  as  much.  But  our  gram- 
mar schools  should  not  be  machine  shops;  they 
should  be  imparting  to  the  boys  and  girls  the  power 
and  strength  of  mind  to  reason  and  think  for  them- 
selves, and  the  logical  and  penetrating  knowledge  of 
those  subjects,  institutions  and  principles  which 
they  must  understand  if  they  are  to  grapple  success- 
fully with  the  new  and  unsolved  problems  which  the 
future  is  sure  to  hold  in  store  for  them. 

Another  Dad  result  of  the  overcrowded  grammar 
school  curriculum  is  its  effect  upon  the  teacher.  In 
all  the  primary  and  grammar  schools  where  only  one 
or  two  teachers  are  employed,  it  is  possible  to  give 
only  a  few  moments  to  a  recitation,  and  hence  there 
is  no  time  for  proper  explanation  or  elucidation  of 
the  subject  in  hand.  This  is  fatal  to  good  work,  be- 
cause one  of  the  most  valuable  functions  of  a  teacher 
lies  in  his  ability  to  explain  and  reveal  the  funda- 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  41 

mental  principles  underlying  the  subject  which  he  is 
seeking  to  teach.  It  is  this  thoroughness  and  ear- 
nestness of  explanation  on  the  part  of  the  teacher 
that  incites  in  the  student  a  love  for  his  work,  makes 
his  school  life  a  pleasure  rather  than  a  drudgery, 
and  implants  in  him  an  enthusiasm  for  study  and  in- 
vestigation that  often  changes,  for  the  better,  the 
whole  current  of  his  life. 

'^Blessed  is  the  man,"  says  Emerson,  "who  has  a 
bias  for  some  pursuit,  which  finds  him  in  happiness 
and  employment."  And,  surely,  we  may  add,  blessed 
is  that  school  where  enthusiasm  holds  sway.  Per- 
haps there  is  no  more  beautiful  word  in  the  English 
language  than  the  word  enthusiasm,  which,  coming 
to  us  from  the  Greeks,  means  literally,  a  God  within ; 
all  reverence  to  the  teacher  or  the  system  which 
shall  turn  the  devotions  of  the  young  and  active 
minds  to  the  fostering  worship  of  the  "God  Within." 
Any  teacher  that  has  the  time  and  ability  to  create 
in  his  pupils  an  enthusiasm  for  their  work  will  have 
very  little  trouble  with  discipline.  To  deprive  the 
teacher  of  the  proper  time  for  this  is  one  of  the  most 
detrimental  results  of  the  overcrowded  grammar 
school  curriculum,  and  means  that  the  enthusiasm 
which  comes  from  a  task  well  done  is  to  be  an  un- 
known experience  among  our  students. 

While  unqualified  teachers  are,  to  some  extent, 
responsible  for  the  defective  results  of  the  grammar 
school  work,  the  present  character  of  the  grammar 
school  curriculum  itself  is  the  major  cause.  The 
average  curriculum  in  this  state  prescribes  from  six 
to  eight  subjects  for  all  the  grammar  grades.  The 
pupil  is  requested,  or  at  least  expected,  to  prepare 


42  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

the  requirements  of  a  daily  recitation  in  all  of  these 
subjects.  His  work  for  a  given  day  will,  or  may,  be 
somewhat  as  follows :  In  Arithmetic,  explanation  of 
the  principles  of  cube  root;  in  geometry,  prove  the 
following  theorem :  "Two  triangles  are  equal,  if  two 
sides  and  the  included  angle  of  one  are  equal,  re- 
spectively, to  two  sides  and  the  included  angle  of 
the  other;"  in  reading,  several  pages  from  the  "Lady 
of  the  Lake;'-  in  grammar,  conjugation  of  some  verb 
or  the  writing  of  an  essay;  in  physiology,  anatomy  of 
the  eye;  in  civil  government,  qualification  and  elec- 
tion of  senators  and  representatives:  in  book-keep- 
ing, copying  of  some  exercise  into  the  day-book.  The 
above  is  the  average  amount  of  work  that  a  pupil  is 
supposed  to  accomplish  in  one  day.  That  he  does 
not  accomplish  this  work  properly  goes  without  say- 
ing. If  he  has  done  any  part  of  it  well,  he  must  have 
neglected  some  other  part;  or,  if  he  has  attempted 
to  do  it  all,  has  done  none  well.  In  other  words,  he 
is  requested  to  do  something  that  he  cannot  do. 

The  high  school  student  is  supposed  to  carry,  on 
an  average,  four  subjects,  and  the  university  student 
three;  but  the  grammar  school  student,  for  some  un- 
known reason,  is  supposed  to  be  able  to  study  and 
develop  at  the  same  time,  eight  separate  and  distinct 
lines  of  work.  There  is  not  one  mature  man  or 
woman  in  ten  who  would  be  able  to  accomplish  any- 
thing definite  or  valuable  if  he  or  she  attempted  to 
work  along  eight  new  and  independent  lines  at  the 
same  time.  We  ought  not  to  expect  more  mental 
work  from  boys  and  girls  under  fifteen  than  we  do 
from  them  after  they  have  become  men  and  women. 
If  we  are  determined  to  be  so  unreasonable  as  to  do 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  43 

SO,  we  must  be  satisfied  with  the  inaccurate,  super- 
ficial and  smattering  knowledge  which  our  gram- 
mar school  graduates  possess  of  the  subjects  which 
they  deem  they  have  studied. 

III.     THE   REMEDY. 

The  natural  and  only  way  to  remedy  the  evil  re- 
sults of  our  overcrowded  elementary  school  course 
of  study  is  to  omit  altogether  some  of  the  subjects 
taught,  shorten  some,  and  rearrange  others.  In  con- 
sidering the  remedy,  each  subject  will  be  taken  up 
separately,  the  changes  which  seem  necessary  in 
order  to  make  the  elementary  school  course  of  study 
a  practical  and  useful  one,  will  bft  stated  and  some 
of  the  reasons  which  would  seem  to  justify  said 
change  will  be  discussed. 

LANQUAGE.* 

The  first  thing  for  a  child  to  do  is  to  learn  to  read 
and  to  read  well.  Reading  well  does  not  mean  the 
mere  calling  of  words,  but  the  power  to  analyze  and 
to  understand  what  is  read.  The  mere  ability  to 
call  off  words,  to  raise  at  intervals  the  eyes  from  the 
book,  and  to  employ  elocutionary  or  stage  methods 
of  any  kind,  is  not  reading.  In  fact,  in  so  far  as  the 
reader  or  public  speaker  attracts  the  attention  of 
his  audience  to  his  manner  of  delivery,  in  so  far  he 
fails  as  a  reader  or  a  speaker.  We  no  longer  try  to 
sway  men  by  emotion,  but  by  reason.     The  pupil 


*  (Language  as  here  used  includes  all  the  reading,  compo- 
sition and  grammar  in  the  primary  and  grammer  grades.) 


44  ED  VGA  TIONAL     Q  UES  T/OA^Sf. 

should  be  taught  to  make  clear  the  meaning  of  what 
he  is  reading,  and  this  he  cannot  do  unless  he  can 
explain  the  meaning  of  each  word  and  each  sentence. 
If  he  does  understand  what  he  is  reading,  he  will 
read  it  so  that  those  who  hear  him  will  also  get  the 
meaning.  More  attention  should  be  directed  to 
thought  reading,  and  less  attention  to  form  reading. 

The  teacher  should  not  permit  the  pupil  to  take 
up  an  advance  lesson  in  reading  until  he  can  explain 
the  meaning  of  each  word  and  each  sentence  in  the 
lesson  under  discussion.  Better  understand  one 
reading  lesson  per  week,  than  to  half  understand  a 
dozen.  From  an  educational  standpoint  the  mental 
discipline  derived  from  a  thorough  mastery  ol  tne 
reading  lesson  is  almost  invaluable.  The  number  of 
lessons  which  a  pupil  reads  is  of  very  little  import- 
ance to  him,  but  the  power  to  understand,  to  analyze 
what  he  reads  is  of  vital  importance.  Without  the 
pov/er  to  get  from  the  written  page  the  meaning  of 
the  writer,  a  pupil  cannot  make  any  real  advance- 
ment along  any  line  of  study.  This  being  true,  it 
follows  that  the  first  few  years  of  a  child's  school 
life  should  be  devoted  largely  to  learning  how  to 
read,  and  reading  should  be  made  a  more  important 
part  of  all  the  elementary  school  work. 

To  the  pupil  the  ability  to  get  from  the  written 
page  the  meaning  of  the  writer  is  the  most  valuable 
result  that  he  will  obtain  from  the  time  devoted  to 
reading,  because  it  represents  the  power  he  has 
gained.  The  subject  matter,  however,  can  be  made 
of  great  value  to  him.  During  the  last  few  years  it 
has  become  a  fad  to  have  the  reading  matter  in  our 
grammar  school  consist  of  myths,  fairy  stories  and 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  45 

a  description  of  the  animal  and  plant  world.  This 
is  all  very  good  and  most  of  it  is  instructive;  but  is 
there  not  something  better?  The  history  of  man  is 
a  record  of  what  he  has  done  in  all  his  various  lines 
of  activity,  and,  aside  from  the  power  to  do,  a  knowl- 
edge of  that  record  is  one  of  the  most  valuable 
things  that  a  man  or  woman  can  possess.  The 
study  of  history  is  a  direct  study  of  that  record,  and 
why  not  have  the  major  part  of  the  subject  matter 
of  the  reading  in  the  grammar  school  instructive  in 
itself?  Nothing  is  more  fascinating  to  the  child- 
mind  than  a  simple  story  of  what  a  great  man  has 
done.  And  in  such  a  story  the  outline  of  ten  years 
of  a  nation's  history  may  often  be  skillfully  inter- 
woven. The  reading  matter  of  the  fourth,  fifth  and 
sixth  years  should  be  largely  geographical  and  his- 
torical, thus  laying  the  foundation  for  the  formal 
study  of  history  and  geography  in  the  seventh  and 
eighth  years,  and  thus  securing  a  common  sense 
unity  of  purpose  to  all  the  pupil's  efforts.  In  the 
seventh  and  eighth  years  the  best  literature  should 
be  studied,  and  these  two  years  of  work  should  cre- 
ate in  the  pupil  a  love  of  literature  for  literature's 
sake. 

The  ability  of  the  pupil  to  get  from  the  written 
page  the  meaning  of  the  writer  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
valuable  result  that  he  will  obtain  from  all  his  ele- 
mentary school  work,  because  it  secures  to  him  the 
power  to  study  and  investigate  the  best  that  has 
been  produced  along  any  line  of  human  activity.  The 
ability  to  express  his  thoughts  orally  and  in  writing 
with  force  and  clearness  stands  next  in  importance, 
because  it  gives  him  the  power  to  make  a  practical 


46  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

use  of  what  he  may  have  obtained  from  the  written 
page,  from  experience,  and  from  independent  inves- 
tigation. 

To  enable  the  pupil  thus  to  express  his  thoughts 
orally  and  in  writing  with  force  and  clearness  is  the 
main  object  of  the  study  of  grammar,  and  the  best 
way  to  accomplish  this  is  by  practice  in  composition 
work.  That  practice  should  go  hand  in  hand  with 
the  work  in  reading,  because  the  ability  of  the  pupil 
to  express  his  own  thoughts  correctly  and  his  ability 
to  interpret  another's  are  closely  related  and  should 
be  acquired  together. 

The  graduates  of  the  elementary  schools,  however, 
will  not  have  learned  to  speak  and  write  the  English 
language  even  moderately  well  until  the  present 
method  of  teaching  grammar  is  fundamentally 
changed.  In  the  public  schools  to-day  there  is  a 
large  amount  of  time  wasted  on  the  study  of  tech- 
nical grammar.  The  analytical  part  of  grammar — 
that  part  which  deals  with  the  mechanical  dissec- 
tion of  phrases,  clauses,  and  sentences — should  be 
entirely  omitted.  Under  this  head  will  come  the  de- 
fining of  phrases,  clauses  and  sentences  as  to  form 
and  meaning;  the  analysis  and  diagraming  of  sen- 
tences; the  parsing  of  the  different  parts  of  speech; 
declension  of  pronouns,  and  the  committing  of  the 
various  rules  of  grammar. 

Particular  attention  should  be  devoted  to  the 
synthetic  or  constructive  part  of  grammar.  Under 
this  head  will  come  capitalization,  punctuation, 
verbs,  pronouns,  modifiers,  possessives,  plurals,  and 
paragraphing.  This  part  of  grammar  should  be 
taught  entirely  in  connection  with  the  composition 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  47 

work.  When  a  pupil  in  his  composition  work  makes 
a  mistake,  the  teacher  should  call  his  attention  and 
the  attention  of  the  class  to  that  fact.  If  the  mis- 
take involves  some  general  rule,  carefully  explain 
that  rule.  Teachers  who  cordially  carry  out  this 
method  of  teaching  grammar  will  soon  find  that 
their  pupils  will  be  able  to  place  their  thoughts 
clearly  and  distinctly  on  paper — something  that 
eight-ninths  of  the  high  school  graduates  to-day  are 
not  able  to  do.  The  fact  that  the  main  object  of  the 
study  of  grammar  is  to  enable  the  pupil  to  express 
his  thoughts  orally  and  in  writing,  with  force  and 
clearness,  should  be  kept  constantly  in  mind. 

The  naming  and  the  parsing  of  the  different  parts 
of  speech,  the  declension  of  pronouns,  the  conjuga- 
tion of  verbs  and  the  committing  of  the  various  rules 
of  grammar  do  very  little  toward  teaching  the  pupil 
to  speak  and  write  the  English  language  correctly. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  a  man's  or  woman's  ability  to 
use  the  English  language  correctly  has  been  ac- 
quired almost  entirely  by  practice  and  not  from  the 
study  of  technical  grammar.  If  more  time  were  de- 
voted to  composition  and  essay  work  and  less  to 
technical  grammar,  perhaps  the  majority  of  those 
who  enter  our  universities  would  not  fail  in  their 
entrance  examination  in  English.  It  is  the  ability 
to  do,  that  is  of  the  greatest  value  to  the  pupil. 

The  time  devoted  to  the  allied  subjects  of  read- 
ing, composition  and  grammar  should  be  much 
greater  than  at  present.  They  should  receive  two- 
thirds  of  the  pupil's  time  during  the  first  and  second 
years,  one-half  during  the  third  and  fourth  years, 
and  one-fourth  during  the  fifth,  sixth,  seventh  and 


48  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

eighth  years.  Experience  is  proving  that  the  fol- 
lowing arrangement  of  time  and  subject  matter  will 
secure  good  results  from  the  time  devoted  to  the 
study  of  Language: 

First  Year. 

Pupils  should  read  twice  each  day,  and  during  the 
last  two  months  should  recite  each  day  on  their 
written  work.  The  reading  matter  should  be  care- 
fully selected. 

Second  Year. 

Pupils  should  read  twice  each  day,  and  recite  once 
each  day  on  their  written  work.  The  reading  mat- 
ter should  be  carefully  selected. 

Third  Year. 

Pupils  should  read  once  each  day,  and  should  re- 
cite once  each  day  on  their  composition  work.  The 
reading  matter  should  be  carefully  selected. 

Fourth  Year. 

Pupils  should  read  once  each  day,  and  should  re- 
cite once  each  day  on  their  composition  work.  The 
reading  matter  should  be  carefully  selected  and 
should  contain  one  historical  reader  as,  "Stories  of 
Colonial  Children.'^ 

Fifth  Year. 

Pupils  should  read  three  times  each  week  and 
should  recite  twice  each  w^eek  on  the  composition 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  49 

work.  The  reading  matter  should  be  carefully  se- 
lected and  should  contain  one  historical  reader — one 
dealing  with  Pacific  Coast  historj^  stories  should, 
perhaps,  be  preferred. 

Sixth  Year. 

Pupils  should  read  three  times  each  week,  and 
should  recite  twice  each  week  on  the  composition 
work.  The  reading  matter  should  be  carefully  se- 
lected and  should  contain  one  historical  reader — as 
"A  First  Book  in  American  History." 

Seventh  and  Eighth  Years. 

Pupils  should  read  three  times  each  week,  and 
should  recite  twice  each  week  on  their  composition 
work.  The  reading  matter  should  be  carefully  se- 
lected. '^Evangeline,"  and  one  or  two  selections 
from  the  "Sketch  Book"  would  make  good  material 
for  the  seventh  year,  and  "The  Ladv^f  the  Lake" 
for  the  eighth  year.  Quality  and^jquflitity  of  work 
should  be  considered.  * 

AKITHMETIC. 

There  is,  perhaps,  no  subject  taught  in  the  gram- 
mar school  from  which  so  little  is  derived  when 
compared  with  its  possibilities,  as  in  the  subject  of 
arithmetic.  The  value  to  the  individual  of  a  logical 
and  thorough  knowledge  of  the  principles  underly- 
ing the  fundamental  operations  of  arithmetic  is  al- 


*Note:     For  a  discussion  on  the  teaching  of  composition 
and  grammar  see  "  Grammar  by  the  Inductive  Method,  "p;  71^ 


50  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

most  invaluable.  They  form  the  basis  of  the  mathe- 
matical calculations  which  are  used  in  every  day 
life,  and  they  are  the  basis  of  all  higher  mathemat- 
ics. But,  notwithstanding  the  importance  of  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  these  fundamental  princi- 
ples, they  are  sacrificed  in  the  attempt  to  cover  too 
many  arithmetical  subjects. 

If  the  grammar  school  pupil  would  omit  those 
subjects  of  arithmetic  which  are  to  him  of  compara- 
tively little  value,  and  thoroughly  master  addition, 
subtraction,  multiplication,  division,  common  and 
decimal  fractions,  the  practical  part  of  compound 
numbers,  percentage,  with  its  practical  applications, 
and  the  practical  part  of  mensuration,  he  would  ac- 
quire something  really  valuable  and  practical  from 
his  study  of  arithmetic;  and  thoroughness  in  those 
subjects  would  give  him  a  far  better  mental  drill 
than  the  half-mastery  of  what  he  is  compelled  to 
study  at  the  present  time. 

There  is  an  ancestral  sacredness  about  arithmetic 
that  makes  it  very  hard  to  eliminate  any  part  of  it 
from  the  grammar  school  work.  The  average  man 
believes  that  all  the  subjects  taught  in  arithmetic 
are  equally  valuable  and  good.  In  the  actual  duties 
of  life,  however,  very  few  ever  find  it  necessary  to 
extract  the  square  or  cube  root  of  a  number;  to  cal- 
culate the  latitude  or  longitude  of  a  place;  to  use 
continued  fractions  or  circulating  decimals;  to  use 
half  of  the  weights  and  measures  they  have  learned 
in  school;  to  find  out  the  relative  value  of  stocks  and 
bonds;  to  use  their  knowledge  of  general  average, 
discount,  domestic  and  foreign  exchange,  and  equa- 
tion of  payments.     This  being  true,  it  would  seem  to 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  51 

follow  that  this  ancestral  sacredness  has  a  rather 
insecure  foundation.  However  this  may  be,  those 
in  authority  who  wish  to  eliminate  the  unnecessary 
and  impractical  parts  of  arithmetic  must  do  so  in 
the  face  of  public  opinion,  and  in  this  connection  it 
is  encouraging  to  note  that  some  of  the  county 
boards  of  education  in  this  state  have  the  courage  of 
their  convictions. 

xlnother  reason  why  the  results  derived  from  the 
study  of  arithmetic  are  not  what  they  should  be  is 
lack  of  oral  analysis  at  the  blackboard.  Teachers, 
as  a  rule,  are  inclined  to  accept,  as  final,  the  written 
solutions  of  problems  which  pupils  hand  in.  The  re- 
sults from  this  method  of  teaching  arithmetic  will 
prove  unsatisfactory.  When  a  new  subject  is  taken 
up  by  a  class,  the  teacher  should  occupy  the  time  of 
the  first  recitation  in  explaining  the  new  principles 
involved,  and  usually  it  is  best  to  do  this  by  use  of 
the  blackboard.  After  the  principles  have  been  ex- 
plained to  the  class,  then  assign  examples  for  a  reci- 
tation. A  pupil  should  not  be  permitted  to  begin 
the  solution  of  examples  in  an  ordinary  recitation 
until  the  teacher  is  convinced  that  said  pupil  can 
pass  to  the  board  and  solve  all  the  problems  in  the 
recitation  under  discussion,  and  give  a  clear  and 
logical  explanation  of  every  step  in  his  solution. 
Better  solve  and  understand  one  example  a  week 
than  merely  solve  half  a  dozen.  It  is  not  enough  for 
a  pupil  to  know  that  before  fractions  can  be  added 
or  subtracted,  they  must  be  reduced  to  a  common  de- 
nominator; he  should  be  able  to  explain  why  they 
must  be  reduced  to  a  common  denominator;  it  is  not 
enough  for  him  to  know  that  in  reducing  fractions 


52  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

to  a  common  denominator  he  must  multiply  each 
term  of  a  fraction  by  the  same  number;  he  should 
understand  why  he  must  multiply  each  term  by  the 
same  number;  it  is  not  enough  for  a  pupil  to  know 
that  the  circumference  of  a  circle  multiplied  by  one 
half  the  radius  will  give  the  area  of  the  circle,  he 
should  be  able  to  begin  with  the  square  and  develop 
the  rule  and  show  why  it  is  true.  Instead  of  requir- 
ing the  pupil  to  memorize  rules  and  apply  the  same 
to  the  solution  of  certain  problems,  teach  him  to  de- 
velop and  make  those  rules.  This  process  may  be 
slow,  but  its  value  to  the  pupiT  cannot  be  questioned. 
In  arithmetic,  more  than  in  any  other  subject,  teach 
the  pupil  to  think  and  not  merely  to  memorize. 

The  teaching  of  arithmetic  should  begin  with  the 
third  year  and  end  with  the  eighth.  Pupils  in  the 
first  and  second  years  might  be  taught  to  count  so 
as  to  be  able  to  give  the  number  of  the  pages  in  their 
books,  but  combination  work  of  any  kind  should  not 
be  attempted.  The  young  mind  is  not  phychologi- 
cally  adapted  to  mathematics  and  the  time  devoted 
to  arithmetic  in  the  lower  primary  grades  is  practi- 
cally wasted.  Better  devote  this  time  to  writing, 
spelling  and  language  work, — work  for  which  the 
young  mind  is  naturally  adapted. 

The  subject  of  fractions  is  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult subjects  in  arithmetic,  and  its  formal  study 
should  not  be  attempted  before  the  sixth  year. 

The  teacher  should  have  his  pupils  understand 
each  step,  and  the  fundamental  principle  involved, 
before  he  passes  to  another,  and  each  pupil  should 
be  able  to  make  a  fairly  complex  application  of  the 
same. 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  53 

HISTORY. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  preparations  for  citizen- 
ship that  a  boy  or  girl  can  obtain  from  grammar 
school  work  is  an  intelligent  understanding  of  our 
political  and  historical  institutions.  It  is  the  foun- 
dation of  all  true  patriotism.  Patriotism  based 
upon  spasmodic  hurrahing  for  the  flag,  and  upon 
Fourth  of  July  orations,  does  not  embody  the  ele- 
ments of  an  enduring  patriotism.  The  splendid 
bravery  and  heroism  of  both  the  northern  and  the 
southern  soldier  during  the  late  civil  war  rest  upon 
the  fact  that  he  was  battling  for  his  convictions,  and 
only  the  enlightened  have  any  real  convictions. 
Each  knew,  or  at  least  he  thought  he  knew,  the 
value  to  him  of  the  institutions  for  which  he  was 
fighting,  and  he  believed  that  he  was  right.  The 
moral  value  of  this  kind  of  training  is  invaluable. 
^*  I  would  rather,"  said  Dr.  Howard,  ''  from  a  moral 
and  patriotic  standpoint,  have  a  child  of  mine  well 
grounded  in  the  knowledge  of  the  growth  of  our 
institutions,  in  the  mechanism  of  political  parties, 
and  the  value  of  the  ballot,  than  to  have  moral  pre- 
cepts preached  to  him  all  his  life." 

Notwithstanding  the  importance  of  this  subject, 
there  is,  perhaps,  no  other  subject  in  our  grammar 
school  so  conspicuously  neglected  as  the  subject  of 
political  science.  One  cause  for  this  is — lack  of  a 
good  text  book.  It  is  an  outrage  that  the  grammar 
school  pupils  of  this  state  are  compelled  to  use  such 
an  abominable.text  book  as  the  State  Series  History. 
County  boards  of  education  are  justified  in  resorting 
to  any  subterfuge  that  will  result  in  its  practical 
abolition  from  the  schools  of  their  county.     Any 


54  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

school  is  justified  in  using  some  good  supplementary 
book  to  the  practical  exclusion  of  the  State  Series 
History. 

Another  cause  that  history  is  so  poorly  taught  in 
our  grammar  schools  is  lack  of  teachers  who  have 
been  adequately  trained  in  historical  science.  The 
average  teacher,  however  well  he  may  be  prepared 
to  teach  other  subjects,  is  not  well  prepared  to  teach 
history  because  he  has  never  had  a  chance  to  become 
well  prepared.  No  teacher  ought  to  teach  history 
who  has  not  carefully  studied  "  Epochs  of  American 
History,"  by  Hart,  Thwaites  and  Wilson,  in  three 
volumes,  and  ^'  History  of  the  United  States."  bv 
Schouler,  in  five  volumes,  or  some  work  equivalent 
to  these.  History,  as  taught  by  most  teachers,  is  a 
mere  process  of  memory,  and  consists  in  the  stating 
of  dates,  and  the  relating  of  the  events  of  wars,  ad- 
ministrations, settlements — the  mere  skeleton  of 
history.  The  history  of  a  nation  or  of  an  institution 
is  a  growth  and  should  be  studied  as  such.  The 
study  of  cause  and  effect  should  be  substituted  for 
the  memorizing  of  dates  and  events.  Until  the 
schools  in  which  teachers  are  trained  give  to  politi- 
cal science  the  position  which  its  importance  de- 
mands, the  teaching  of  history  and  civil  government 
in  the  elementary  schools  must  remain  unsatisfac- 
tory. 

History,  in  conjunction  with  civil  government, 
should  receive  at  least  one-fourth  of  the  pupil's  time 
in  the  seventh  and  eighth  years.  A  foundation  for 
this  work  should  have  been  laid  in  the  reading  of 
historical  sketches  in  the  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth 
years  as  part  of  the  reading  course. 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  55 

The  work  in  the  seventh  year  should  include  the 
history  of  the  United  States  to  Washington's  first 
administration.  It  should  embrace  a  brief  study  of 
the  conditions  favorable  to  the  discovery  of  Amer- 
ica; a  study  of  the  period  of  discovery,  exploration 
and  permanent  settlement  in  North  America;  a 
study  of  the  Colonial  period,  and  a  sketch  of  the 
Revolution.  At  the  close  of  the  year's  work  pupils 
should  be  able  to  write  intelligently  upon  such  ques- 
tions as  the  following: 

1.  Discuss  the  conditions  favorable  to  the  discov- 
ery of  America. 

2.  Briefly  outline  the  political  history  of  the  En- 
glish, French,  Dutch  and  Spanish  colonies  in  North 
America  down  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution. 

3.  In  an  essay  of  not  less  than  five  hundred 
words  discuss  the  causes  and  results  of  the  French 
and  Indian  War. 

4.  Discuss  the  causes  which  changed  the  English 
colonists  from  loyal  subjects  of  the  British  Crown 
to  a  state  of  open  rebellion. 

5.  Briefly  outline  the  campaigns  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. 

6.  Discuss  the  social,  economic  and  intellectual 
life  of  the  New  England,  the  Middle  and  the  South- 
ern Colonies  at  the  close  of  the  French  and  Indian 
War. 

7.  Discuss  the  social,  economic  and  intellectual 
life  of  the  New  England,  the  Middle  and  the  South- 
ern colonies  at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution. 


56  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

8.  Discuss  the  events  which  made  necessary  the 
calling  of  the  Constitutional  Convention. 

9.  Discuss  the  three  great  compromises  of  the 
Convention. 

10.  In  an  essay  of  not  less  than  five  hundred 
words  discuss  the  executive,  judicial  and  legislative 
departments  of  the  National  Government. 

11.  Compare  the  three  departments  of  the  Na- 
tional Government  with  the  three  departments  of 
the  State  Government. 

The  eighth  year's  work  in  history  should  include 
the  history  of  the  United  States  from  Washington's 
first  inauguration  to  the  present  time.  At  the  end 
of  this  year's  work  pupils  should  be  able  to  write 
intelligently  on  such  subjects  as  the  following: 

1.  Discuss  the  struggle  for  neutral  rights. 

2.  In  an  essay  of  not  less  than  five  hundred 
words  discuss  the  causes  and  results  of  the  war  of 
1812. 

3.  Discuss  (a)  Washington's  idea  of  a  republican 
form  of  government,  (b)  Jefferson's  idea  of  a  re- 
publican form  of  government. 

4.  Discuss  Hamilton's  financial  scheme. 

5.  Discuss  the  origin  of  the  "  Spoils  System." 

6.  In  an  essay  of  not  less  than  one  thousand 
words  discuss  the  rise  of  the  slave  power  in  the 
United  States. 

7.  Discuss  the  social,  economic  and  intellectual 
conditions  of  the  United  States  in  1840  and  in  1860. 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  57 

8.  Discuss  the  causes  which  brought  about  the 
difference  in  the  social  and  economic  conditions  of 
the  North  and  South  before  the  Civil  War. 

The  subjects  and  questions  above  indicate  what 
would  constitute  the  work  in  history.  Particular 
stress  should  be  laid  on  the  social,  economic  and  in- 
tellectual life  of  a  nation,  and  the  growth  of  our  in- 
stitutions. A  careful  study  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  and  a  comparison  of  the  depart- 
ments of  the  national  government  with  those  of  the 
state  governments  should  constitute  the  work  in 
Civil  Government.  The  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  should  be  studied  at  the  close  of  the  study  on 
the  Constitutional  Convention. 

GEOGRAPHY. 

Geography,  as  taught  at  present  in  our  grammar 
schools,  is  badly  taught  indeed.  The  teacher  is  not 
so  much  to  blame  for  this  as  the  text-book  writers, 
who  seem  to  think  that  the  principal  object  for 
studying  geography  is  to  memorize  names.  Great 
stress  should  be  placed  upon  the  necessity  of  learn- 
ing the  names  of  the  more  important  rivers,  cities, 
mountains,  etc.,  because  every  person  should  be  able 
to  locate  the  more  important  places  referred  to  in 
his  reading.  Entirely  too  much  time,  however,  is 
wasted  in  memorizing  the  names  of  unimportant 
rivers,  towns,  bays,  etc.  Half  of  the  names  which  a 
student  learns  from  his  geography  he  never  hears 
of  after  he  has  left  the  grammar  school. 

The  study  of  geography  as  a  separate  study  should 
be  restricted  entirely  to  the  seventh  and  eighth 
years.     A  text  book  on  geography  should  not  be 


58  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

placed  in  the  hands  of  the  pupil  until  the  seventh 
year,  and  a  recitation  period  should  not  be  provided 
for  this  subject  before  that  time.  The  study  of 
geography,  however,  in  connection  with  the  reading 
course,  and  as  a  part  of  the  busy  work  should  begin 
with  the  third  year.  Good  plain  maps  should  al- 
ways be  available  and  convenient,  and  every  geo- 
graphical reference  in  connection  with  the  pupil's 
work  should  be  pointed  out,  and  he  should  be  re- 
quired to  note  the  same  carefully.  Fourth  year  pu- 
pils, as  part  of  their  busy  work,  should  be  required 
to  draw  maps  of  California,  locating  the  principal 
rivers,  valleys,  mountain  ranges,  bays  and  cities,  and 
to  name  the  counties  and  indicate  approximately  in 
what  part  of  the  State  each  is  located.  They  should 
practice  drawing  these  maps,  until  they  can  draw 
without  reference  to  a  book.  Fifth  year  pupils,  as 
part  of  their  busy  work,  should  practice  drawing 
maps  of  the  United  States  until  they  can  draw  with- 
out reference  to  a  book,  and  locate  on  the  same  the 
principal  rivers,  valleys,  mountain  systems,  and 
cities,  and  name  the  states  and  territories  and  indi- 
cate approximately  in  what  part  of  the  United 
States  each  is  located.  Sixth  year  pupils,  as  part  of 
their  busy  work,  should  learn  to  draw,  without  refer- 
ence to  a  book,  a  map  of  each  continent,  locating  the 
principal  rivers,  valleys,  mountain  systems,  nations 
and  cities. 

The  pupil  in  the  lower  grades  is  usually  compelled 
to  devote  most  of  the  time  which  he  has  given  to 
this  subject,  to  a  more  or  less  detailed  study  of  the 
geography  of  California,  and  to  some  extent  of  the 
United   States.     This  is   rather  an   unsatisfactory 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  59 

preparation  for  the  study  of  geography  in  the 
seventh  and  eighth  years.  When  a  pupil  begins  his 
seventh  year's  work  he  should  have  fixed  in  his  mind 
the  name  and  location  of  all  the  continents  and 
oceans,  and  of  all  the  larger  valleys,  rivers,  moun- 
tains, nations  and  cities.  By  the  method  outlined 
above  this  knowledge  may  unconsciously  be  ac- 
quired by  the  pupil  without  taking  up  much  of  his 
time,  or  the  time  of  the  teacher. 

The  work  of  the  two  years  devoted  to  a  formal 
study  of  this  subject  should  consist  mainly  in  the 
study  of  the  people,  their  occupations,  the  products 
of  the  countries,  their  exports  and  imports,  modes 
of  communication,  climate  and  soil. 

In  other  words,  speaking  broadly,  the  work  in 
geography  should  consist  mainly  in  the  study  of  the 
habits  and  life  of  the  people  as  they  are  affected  by 
the  physical  conditions  of  the  country  in  which  they 
live,  the  object  being  not  to  fill  the  mind  with  a  num- 
ber of  isolated  facts  soon  to  be  forgotten,  but  to  give 
the  pupil  a  philosophical  understanding  of  the  phy- 
sical relations  of  a  country  to  its  people,  and  what 
those  conditions  are  in  any  given  country,  making 
the  learning  of  the  names  of  the  more  important 
rivers,  cities,  etc.,  incidental  to  this  main  object. 

SPELLING. 

For  some  reason  the  graduates  of  the  public 
schools  to-day  are  not  as  good  spellers  as  were  the 
graduates  of  the  public  schools  thirty  and  forty 
years  ago.  The  cause  of  this  is  the  discarding  of  the 
text  book  and  the  combining  of  the  spelling  with 
Ihe  other  work.     The  reasons  which  make  the  com- 


60  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

bination  of  reading  and  grammar  desirable  do  not 
obtain  in  spelling.  Spelling  is  the  multiplication 
table  of  our  written  language,  and  must,  aside  from 
a  few  helpful  rules,  be  learned  bj  rote.  In  theory 
the  combination  of  spelling  with  the  other  work 
may  be  all  right,  but  in  practice  the  average  teacher 
will  obtain  much  better  results  if  he  will  use  some 
good  text  book,  and  insist  on  thorough  work  and 
drilling.  In  spelling,  the  old  way  is  the  shortest 
after  all. 

It  is  customary  in  some  of  the  counties  of  the  state 
for  the  teacher  to  write  the  spelling  on  the  black- 
board, and  have  the  pupils  copy  it.  This  not  only 
takes  up  the  time  of  the  teacher,  but  the  young  pupil 
will  often  make  a  mistake  in  copying,  and  the  result 
is  unsatisfactory.  Every  person  should  be  able  to 
spell  correctly  all  the  words  which  he  may  have  oc- 
casion to  use  in  ordinary  conversation  and  writing. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  a  great  many  of  the  words  used 
in  our  exercises  of  to-day  are  technical,  and  seldom 
used  in  every  day  life.  The  time  which  is  devoted  to 
this  work  should  be  concentrated  on  common  words. 

In  addition  to  thorough  work  in  the  speller,  the 
teacher  should  give  the  pupil  to  understand  that  he 
will  be  held  responsible  for  the  correct  spelling, 
meaning  the  pronunciation  of  all  words  which  he 
finds  in  his  text-books,  and  those  used  in  his  written 
work.  Especially  should  this  be  insisted  upon  in 
the  advanced  grades.  The  pupil  who  acquires  the 
habit  of  learning  the  correct  spelling  and  exact 
meaning  of  all  the  words  he  uses  will  soon  possess  a 
large  and  invaluable  vocabulary.  The  pupil  studies 
word-analysis  and  spelling  for  the  purpose  of  ac- 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTION  1^.  61 

quiring  a  good  vocabulary,  and  hence  he  should  not 
be  asked  to  devote  much  of  his  time  to  technical 
words  that  will  contribute  but  little  toward  that 
end. 

Very  little  time  should  be  devoted  to  word  analy- 
sis and  diacritical  marks,  and  no  time  should  be 
wasted  in  any  subject  by  compelling  pupils  to  take 
certain  words  and  use  them  in  the  construction  of  a 
sentence.  All  the  time  that  the  pupil  can  devote  to 
this  subject  should  be  devoted  to  learning  how  to 
spell  words,  and  not  wasted  in  attempting  to  fill  out 
blank  spaces  in  sentences.  Composition  work  will 
teach  the  pupil  the  proper  application  and  use  of 
words. 

Spelling  as  a  separate  subject  should  end  with  the 
sixth  year,  but  during  the  seventh  and  eighth  years 
pupils  should  be  required  to  spell  correctly  all  the 
words  used  in  their  wTitten  work. 

WRITING. 

Writing  with  pen  and  ink  should  begin  with  the 
first  year  and  should  receive  careful  attention 
throughout  the  entire  grammar  school  course.  No 
regular  set  exercises  need  be  insisted  upon  after 
the  sixth  year,  but  neatness  in  the  written  work 
should  always  be  made  a  prime  condition.  Let  the 
pupil  once  understand  that  all  his  written  work 
must  be  neat,  and  represent  his  best  penmanship, 
and  he  will  soon  develop  a  neat,  legible  hand  and  a 
res})e(^t  for  order  and  system. 


€2  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

PHYSIOLOGY. 

No  more  time  should  be  devoted  to  the  study  of 
physiology  in  the  grammar  school  than  will  be  nec- 
essary to  teach  the  pupils  some  of  the  more  general 
laws  of  health.  The  study  of  anatomy  and  physi- 
ology proper  belong  to  the  university  and  medical 
college,  and  not  to  the  grammar  and  the  high 
school.  Every  grammar  school  graduate,  however, 
should  understand  the  following: 

1.  Value  of  pure  air. 

2.  Value  of  proper  exercise. 

3.  Why  bathing  is  conducive  to  health. 

4.  Proper  care  of  the  eye. 

5.  Selection  and  eating  of  food. 

6.  Intemperance. 

Some  knowledge  of  physiology  is  necessary  to  un- 
derstand these  general  laws  of  health.  This  knowl- 
edge should  be  obtained  by  the  pupil  not  through 
the  use  of  text-books,  but  through  lectures  and  talks 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  One  lecture  period  of 
twenty  or  thirty  minutes  per  week  is  sufficient  for 
this  work,  and  Friday  afternoon  is  suggested  as  the 
best  time.  Unless  the  teacher  has  special  reasons 
for  doing  otherv/ise,  he  should  give  these  talks  be- 
fore the  entire  school.  The  advanced  pupils  should 
be  required  to  keep  note  books  for  this  subject,  and, 
when  the  teacher  deems  it  necessary,  should  be  re- 
quired to  recite  on  the  work  covered  by  past  lec- 
tures. When  these  lectures  are  given,  some  recita- 
tion period  of  the  regular  work  should  be  omitted. 
The  teacher  should  not  devote  any  more  time  to  this 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  63 

work  than  is  necessary  to  teach  the  pupil  some  of 
the  more  important  laws  of  health. 

The  teacher  should  take  particular  pains  to  im- 
press upon  all  his  pupils  the  bad  results  which  fol- 
low intemperance,  but  he  should  not  forget  that  in- 
temperance in  alcoholic  drinks  and  in  the  use  of 
narcotics  is  not  the  only  kind  of  intemperance.  In- 
temperance in  eating,  in  pleasure  and  in  exercise,  is 
also  injurious  to  the  human  system,  though  not  to 
such  an  extent  as  excess  in  the  use  of  alcoholic 
drinks  and  narcotics.  In  other  words,  the  pupil  has 
derived  the  most  benefit  from  this  study  when  he 
has  learned  that  the  violation  of  a  natural  law 
brings  its  natural  punishment,  and  has  learned  what 
some  of  these  most  important  laws  are. 

BOOKKEEPING. 

The  grammar  school  cannot  hope  to  graduate  pu- 
pils who  are  qualified  to  enter  an  office  and  keep  a 
set  of  books.  That  training  should  be  obtained  in 
the  Commercial  Course  of  the  high  school,  or  in  a 
business  college. 

The  amount  of  work  in  the  grammar  school  in  this 
subject  should  be  restricted  to  teaching  the  pupils 
how  to  keep  a  debit  and  credit  account,  which  is  all 
that  is  necessary  for  the  ordinary  business  of  life. 
The  pupil  must  be  taught  how  to  keep  a  debit  and 
credit  account  in  connection  with  his  work  in  arith- 
metic, when  the  subject  of  accounts  is  reached. 

DRAWING. 

To  the  average  man  and  woman  the  value  of 
drawing  as  a  permanent  acquisition  is  not  great. 


64  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

Drawing,  however,  trains  the  hand  and  the  eye,  and 
is  a  source  of  great  pleasure  to  the  young  child. 
For  this  reason  it  should  constitute  part  of  the  busy 
work  in  the  lower  primary  grades,  but  should  not  be 
allowed  to  encroach  in  the  least  upon  other  work. 
It  should  be  used  as  a  means  to  rest  and  divert  the 
little  children. 

The  course  of  study  for  elementary  schools,  out- 
lined above  is  as  follows: 

First  Year. 

Language  (Reading  twice  each  day;  during  the 
last  two  months  recitation  on  written  work  once 
each  day.) 

Spelling. 

Writing. 

Busy  work — pictorial  drawing. 

Second  Year. 

Language  (Reading  twice  each  day;  recitation  on 
written  work  once  each  day.) 
Spelling. 
Writing. 
Busy  work — pictorial  drawing. 

Third  Year. 

Language  (Reading  once  each  day;  recitation  on 
composition  once  each  day.) 
Spelling. 
Writing. 
Arithmetic. 
Busy  work — pictorial  drawing. 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  65 

Fourth  Year. 

Language  (Reading  once  each  day;  recitation  on 
composition  once  each  day.) 
Spelling. 
Writing. 
Arithmetic. 
Busy  work — map  drawing. 

Fifth  Year. 

Language  (Reading  three  times  each  week;  reci- 
tation on  composition  twice  each  week.) 
Spelling. 
Writing. 
Arithmetic. 
Busy  work — map  drawing. 

Sixth  Year. 

Language  (Reading  three  times  each  week;  reci- 
tation on  composition  twice  each  week.) 
Spelling. 
Writing. 
Arithmetic. 
Busy  work — map  drawing. 

Seventh  Year. 

English  (Reading  three  times  each  week;  recita- 
tion on  composition  twice  each  week.) 
Arithmetic. 
History. 
Geography. 


66  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

Eighth  Year. 

English  (Reading  three  times  each  week;  recita- 
tion on  composition  twice  each  week.) 
Arithmetic. 
History. 
Geography. 

With  the  exception  of  the  recitation  on  composi- 
tion during  the  third  and  fourth  years,  this  course 
of  study  contains  four  subjects  for  each  school  year. 
This  result  has  been  secured  by  omitting  some  of 
the  subjects  taught  at  the  present  time,  shortening 
some  and  rearranging  others. 

The  result  of  this  course  of  study  will  not  be  to 
give  the  pupil  less  work  than  he  is  able  to  accom- 
plish, but  to  concentrate  all  his  time  on  those  sub- 
jects which  will  best  prepare  him  for  his  life's  work. 
The  average  grammar  school  course  of  study  con- 
tains so  many  subjects  that  the  pupil  cannot  do  thor- 
ough work  in  any  of  them ;  and,  as  a  result,  when  he 
graduates  he  has  only  a  smattering  knowledge  of 
those  subjects  whose  fundamental  principles  he 
should  have  thoroughly  mastered.  Thoroughness 
demands  concentration  and  not  scattering  of  energy. 

That  some  of  the  subjects  omitted  are  good  ones 
cannot  be  questioned,  but  the  grammar  school 
course  cannot  include  everything  that  is  good;  it 
must  include  only  those  subjects  which  are  best — 
those  subjects  which  will  best  prepare  the  grammar 
school  graduate  for  citizenship.  More  than  ninety 
per  cent,  of  the  grammar  school  pupils  never  enter  a 
higher  school,  and  therefore,  the  grammar  school 
should  be  a  finishing  school.     The  subjects  studied 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  67 

should  be  those  that  will  best  prepare  this  ninety 
per  cent,  for  the  actual  duties  of  life.  The  pupil 
should  devote  all  his  time  to  these  essential  subjects 
and  not  fritter  away  his  time  on  non-essentials  or  in 
trying  to  do  more  than  he  is  able. 

In  many  cases  pupils  are  held  back  in  order  to 
accommodate  those  who  are  not  able  to  do  the  work 
prescribed.  This  is  detrimental  to  the  pupil's  high- 
est welfare.  The  course  of  study  herein  prescribed 
is  broad  enough  and  elastic  enough  to  enable  the 
teacher  to  keep  his  brightest  pupil  busy  with  inde- 
pendent work  along  lines  closely  allied  to  his  regu- 
lar work.  In  all  such  cases  teachers  should  take 
advantage  of  this,  because  independent  work  is  the 
very  best  mental  drill. 

This  course  of  study  is  prescribed  on  the  assump- 
tion that  grammar  school  pupils  never  enter  a  high 
school,  and  on  the  further  assumption  that  the  pupil 
that  is  the  best  prepared  for  his  life's  work  is  the 
best  prepared  for  high  school  work.  If  this  latter 
statement  be  not  true,  then  the  object  of  the  high 
school  is  not  what  is  should  be.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
the  pupil  who  has,  not  half,  but  thoroughly  mast- 
ered reading,  writing,  spelling,  arithmetic,  history 
and  geography,  and  can  express  his  thoughts  orally 
and  in  writing,  with  force  and  clearness,  has  received 
the  best  preparation  for  citizenship  and  the  best 
preparation  for  high  school  work  that  the  grammar 
school  can  give;  more  than  this  the  grammar  school 
cannot  accomplish. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  opinion  of  James  A. 
Garfield  on  this  same  subject.  In  an  address  before 
the  department  of  superintendence  of  the  National 


68  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

Educational  Association,  Washington,  D.  C,  Feb- 
ruary 5,  1879,  he  gave  expression  to  these  ideas : 

"/n  this  connection  I  will  refer  to  the  tendency  in  our 
primary  schools  to  overcrowd  the  children  hy  givi7ig  them 
too  many  studies,  and  thus  rendering  them  superficial  in 
all  The  professors  at  West  Point  tell  us  that  for 
more  than  forty  years  their  course  of  examination  of 
cadets  for  admission  has  been  substantially  the 
same,  and  that  the  questions  now  asked  in  the  sev- 
eral branches  are  the  same  as  those  propounded  in 
the  same  branches  forty  years  ago.  Now,  these  pro- 
fessors say  that  the  percentage  of  failures  to  pass 
that  preliminary  examination  has  been  increasing, 
especially  of  late,  with  alarming  rapidity,  and  is 
very  much  greater  than  it  was  forty  years  ago.  I 
understand  that  Professor  Church  says  this  fact 
does  not  arise  from  worse  appointments,  nor  from 
lack  of  general  information.  Indeed,  the  young  men 
who  go  there  now  have  much  more  general  culture 
than  their  earlier  predecessors.  Many  of  them,  who 
have  studied  Latin,  algebra,  and  physics,  and  other 
higher  branches,  utterly  break  down  in  spelling, 
penmanship,  arithmetic,  and  grammar.  In  short, 
they  know  a  little  of  many  branches,  but  are  thor- 
ough in  none. 

^^There  is  a  limit  of  effort  in  a  child;  and  if  his  culture 
is  spread  over  too  large  a  surface  it  will  be  thin  every- 
where. The  ambition  of  our  schools  to  do  too  mucli  results 
in  doing  nothing  luell.  Non  multa  sed  multum  is  an  old 
and  safe  rule.  I  believe,  therefore,  that  the  two 
great  points  which  the  educators  of  this  country 
should  aim  at  if  they  would  succeed  are,  first, 
smaller  schools  and  more  teachers,  remembering  al- 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  69 

ways  that  a  teacher  who  is  at  all  fit  for  his  work  is 
one  who  has  the  power  of  inspiring,  who  can  pour 
his  spirit  into  the  darkness  of  the  pupil's  mind,  and 
fill  it  with  ^sweetness  and  light';  secondly,  they 
should  cut  off  a  large  number  of  new  studies 
which  have  been  forced  into  the  earlier  course,  and 
concentrate  their  efforts  upon  the  old  primary 
branches  until  these  are  thoroughly  mastered. 

"Now,  gentlemen,  you  who  are  conducting  the 
educational  affairs  of  this  country  cannot  afford  to 
rest  under  this  charge  of  failure  at  West  Point.  You 
must  answer  by  disproving  the  charge,  or  removing 
the  evil.  Every  conference  among  educators  should 
be  directed  to  these  questions;  and  when  they  are 
settled,  you  will  have  rendered  one  of  the  highest 
services  that  can  be  rendered  to  this  country." 


GRAMMAR    BY    THE    INDUCTIVE 
METHOD. 


The  main  object  of  the  study  of  grammar  is  to  en- 
able the  pupil  to  express  his  thoughts  orally  and  in 
writing  with  force  and  clearness.  Unless  the  study 
and  teaching  of  grammar  approach  this  result,  there 
must  be  something  defective  in  the  method  of  pre- 
senting the  subject  in  the  elementary  and  in  the 
secondary  schools. 

That  the  study  and  teaching  of  grammar  in  the 
elementary  and  in  the  secondary  schools  do  not  give 
the  pupil  the  power  to  express  his  thoughts  orally 
and  in  writing  with  force  and  clearness  will  hardly 
be  questioned  by  any  one  who  has  investigated  the 
subject.  If  those  who  question  the  truthfulness  of 
this  statement  will  ask  the  members  of  the  classes 
in  the  highest  grades  of  the  grammar  school  to  write 
a  composition  on  some  subject  with  which  they  are 
familiar,  or  if  they  will  examine  the  final  examin- 
ation papers  of  the  graduates  of  the  grammar 
schools  they  will  soon  be  convinced  that  they  are 
questioning  the  truthfulness  of  a  self-evident  fact. 
Those  compositions  and  papers  will  contain  numer- 
ous mistakes  in  paragraphing,  diction,  construction, 
formation  of  possessives  and  plurals,  and  in  the  use 
of  verbs,  pronouns  and  modifiers.  An  investigation 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  high  school  work  re- 
sults in  a  very  little  improvement  along  these  lines. 
The  authorities  of  the  University  of  California  and 


72  ED  UCA  TIONAL     Q  UES  TIONS. 

of  Stanford  Universitv  have  found  that  pupils  who 
enter  those  institutions  from  the  secondary  schools 
of  this  state  are  more  deficient  in  the  subject  of  com- 
position than  in  any  other  subject.  In  other  words 
high  school  graduates  cannot  do,  even  fairly  well, 
what  the  study  of  grammar  is  supposed  to  give  them 
the  ability  to  do,  namely,  to  place  their  thoughts 
clearly  and  distinctly  on  paper.  Stanford  University 
requires  an  examination  in  composition  and  gram- 
mar of  the  graduates  of  every  high  school  in  the 
state,  and  the  requirements  in  this  subject  by  the 
University  of  California  are  practically  the  same. 
It  is  a  lamentable  fact  that  from  TO  per  cent,  to  90 
per  cent,  of  those  who  take  these  examinations  fail. 

Teachers  themselves,  as  a  rule,  are  poorly  pre- 
pared in  the  subject  of  composition  and  grammar. 
Pei^haps  not  more  than  25  per  cent,  of  the  teachers 
in  the  elementary  schools  of  this  state  or  other 
states  have  the  ability  to  write  for  a  newspaper  an 
ordinary  communication  that  will  approach  correct- 
ness in  grammar  and  construction.  The  boy  of  fif- 
teen in  the  printing  office  has  the  ability  to  take  the 
communication  received  from  the  average  teacher 
and  ^'fix  it  up"  so  that  its  appearance  in  the  columns 
of  the  paper  will  not  be  a  disgrace  to  that  paper. 
The  grammar  school  graduate,  the  high  school  grad- 
uate, and  the  teacher  may  be  able  to  quote  pages  of 
rules  from  the  grammar;  the  boy  in  the  printing 
office  may  never  have  looked  inside  of  a  grammar, 
but  thousands  of  newspaper  men  in  the  United 
States  know  from  experience  that  the  above  is  a 
conservative  statement  of  actual  facts. 

The  object  of  this  discussion  is  to  point  out  the 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  73 

more  important  defects  in  the  present  method  of 
teaching  grammar  and  composition,  and  to  state  and 
explain  another  method  that  will  result  in  giving 
grammar  school  graduates  and  high  school  gradu- 
ates the  ability  to  express  their  thoughts  orally  and 
in  writing  with  force  and  clearness. 

The  difference  between  the  two  methods  referred 
to  above  may  be  considered,  in  a  loose  sense,  the  dif- 
ference between  the  deductive  and  the  inductive 
methods  of  teaching,  which  difference  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  two  methods  of  teaching  arithmetic. 
Most  arithmetics  contain  the  rules  for  extracting  the 
square  and  cube  roots  of  numbers.  Some  teachers 
require  their  pupils  to  memorize  these  rules  and  ap- 
ply the  same  to  the  solution  of  problems.  Other 
teachers  do  not  require  their  pupils  to  memorize  the 
rules  for  extracting  the  square  and  cube  root  of 
numbers  but  do  require  them  to  read  the  explana- 
tions of  principles,  and  then,  with  the  assistance  of 
blocks,  develop  the  rules,  step  by  step.  Some  teach- 
ers require  their  pupils  to  memorize  the  rule,  that 
the  percentage  divided  by  the  base  equals  the  rate, 
and  then  have  them  apply  it  to  the  solution  of  prob- 
lems. Other  teachers  do  not  require  their  pupils  to 
memorize,  but  do  teach  them  how  to  make  it — teach 
them  why  it  is  true.  Those  pupils  who  commit 
rules  and  apply  them  to  the  solution  of  prob- 
lems are  studying  arithmetic  by  the  deductive 
method.  Those  pupils  who  begin  with  a  few  mathe- 
matical facts  and  construct  rules,  are  studying 
arithmetic  by  the  inductive  method.  Those  who  have 
studied  arithmetic  by  the  deductive  methods  will 
soon  forget  the  rules  and  will  then  be  unable  to  find 


74  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

the  square  or  cube  roots  of  numbers  or  find  tbe  rate 
when  the  percentage  and  the  base  are  given.  Those 
who  have  studied  arithmetic  by  the  inductive 
method  will  always  be  able  to  find  the  rate  when  the 
percentage  and  the  base  are  given,  and  will  always 
be  able  to  extract  the  square  and  cube  roots  of  num- 
bers, because  they  understood  the  principles  in- 
volved and  can  make  the  rules,  if  necessary. 

Most  text-books  on  language  and  grammar  con- 
tain a  large  number  of  rules.  With  few  exceptions 
teachers  require  their  pupils  to  memorize  these 
rules,  and  county  boards  of  education  require  gram- 
mar school  graduates  and  applicants  for  teachers^ 
certificates  to  be  able  to  write  them  down.  Very 
few  teachers,  however,  require  their  pupils  to  apply 
in  composition  work  the  rules  which  they  have  mem- 
orized, and  very  few  county  boards  of  education  re- 
quire the  grammar  school  graduates  and  applicants 
for  teachers'  certificates  to  be  able  to  make  a  practi- 
cal application  of  the  rules  which  they  have  memor- 
ized. This  means,  of  course,  that  teachers  do  not 
require  of  pupils,  and  examining  boards  do  not  re- 
quire of  applicants  the  ability  to  express  their 
thoughts  clearly  and  correctly  on  paper — do  not  re- 
quire them  to  apply  the  rules  which  they  have  mem- 
orized. 

The  teaching  of  arithmetic  by  the  deductive 
method  is  almost  universally  condemned,  though  it 
is  practiced  to  some  extent.  The  teaching  of  gram- 
mar by  the  deductive  method  is  not  only  almost  uni- 
versally practiced,  but  approved.  Even  the  deduct- 
ive method  is  not  given  a  fair  trial,  because  pupils 
are  not  required  to  apply  the  rules  which  they  have 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  75 

learned,  and  are  required  to  learn  a  large  number  of 
rules  of  which  a  practical  application  cannot  be 
made. 

Under  these  circumstances,  we  should  not  be  sur- 
prised that  the  teacher  in  the  elementary  schools 
and  the  graduates  of  the  public  schools  have  derived 
so  little  value  from  the  time  which  they  have  de- 
voted to  the  study  of  grammar.  This  condition  of 
affairs  will  not  be  changed  until  the  inductive 
method  of  teaching  grammar  has  been  substituted 
for  the  deductive  method. 

The  inductive  method  of  teaching  grammar  con- 
sists of  omitting  the  analytical  or  impractical  part 
of  grammar,  and  in  teaching  the  constructive  or 
practical  part  in  connection  with  composition  work. 
Composition  is  made  the  basis  of  all  the  work  in 
grammar.  Rules  are  not  memorized  and  the  use  of 
the  text-book  is  practically  abolished.  The  con- 
structive rules  or  principles  are  built  step  by  step 
in  connection  with  the  composition  work.  By  the 
inductive  method  pupils  are  taught  to  write  by  writ- 
ing and  not  by  memorizing  the  rules.  They  are 
taught  by  the  same  method  that  has  given  the  boy 
in  the  printing  office  the  ability  to  correct  the  manu- 
script of  teachers,  with  the  additional  advantage 
over  him  of  understanding  the  reason  for  many  of 
the  rules  that  govern  certain  constructions. 

Capitalization,  punctuation,  formation  of  posses- 
sives  and  plurals,  and  the  proper  use  of  verbs,  pro- 
nouns, and  modifiers,  constitute  the  constructive 
part  of  grammar.  The  remainder  of  this  discussion 
will  be  devoted  to  explaining  how  to  teach  these 


76  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

principles  in  connection  with  and  bj  means  of  com- 
position work. 

In  teaching  composition  and  grammar  in  the  ele- 
mentary schools  an  observance  of  the  following 
fundamental  principles  is  necessary  to  success: 

1.  The  subjects  assigned  for  compositions  should 
deal  largely  with  human  experiences,  and  above  all, 
should  be  specific — so  specific,  in  fact,  that  they  will 
require  a  concise  and  specific  treatment.  One  of 
the  best  results  to  be  derived  from  composition  work 
is  the  trained  mind  that  thinks  concisely  and  logi- 
cally. Broad,  comprehensive,  abstract,  or  indefinite 
subjects  will  lead  to  loose  thinking,  and  hence  to 
rambling  statements  and  to  a  rambling  style. 

2.  A  pupil  in  any  grade  should  never  begin  a 
composition  until  he  has  thoroughly  studied  the  sub- 
ject matter  about  which  he  intends  writing,  and  he 
should  be  required  to  write  all  compositions  or  writ- 
ten reproductions  of  any  kind  in  his  own  language 
and  not  make  them  a  mere  copy  from  books. 

3.  There  must  be  regular  periods  set  aside  for 
recitations  on  the  composition  work.  There  must 
be  a  mutual  discussion  of  the  compositions  by  the 
teacher  and  the  class.  These  discussions  should 
begin  during  the  latter  part  of  the  first  year  and 
should  continue  without  interruption  throughout  all 
the  primary  and  grammar  grade  work.  The  mark- 
ing of  each  composition  and  talking  with  each  pupil 
individually  will  not  take  the  place  of  regular  class 
discussions — they  are  good  adjuncts  to  these  discus- 
sions but  will  not  do  as  substitutes.  Unless  the 
teacher  understands  the  necessity  for  providing  in 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  77 

his  program  regular  periods  for  recitations  on  the 
composition  work,  he  will,  very  likely,  be  only  par- 
tially successful  as  a  teacher. 

4.  Except  in  a  few  of  the  lower  primary  grades, 
there  should  not  be  a  recitation  on  the  composition 
the  same  day  on  which  it  is  written.  The  teacher 
should  have  a  day  or  two  in  which  to  examine  the 
compositions  and  should  select  those  that  will  in- 
sure a  discussion  of  the  more  important  points. 
There  will  then  be  an  opportunity  to  have  selections 
from  some  of  the  compositions  placed  on  the  board 
before  the  recitation  begins.  This  will  often  make 
the  discussion  more  interesting  and  valuable. 

5.  During  eomjjosition  recitations,  the  pupil 
should  be  led  to  discover  the  mistakes,  to  suggest 
a  better  construction,  to  suggest  the  use  of  a  better 
word,  and  to  compliment  a  good  construction  or  the 
use  of  a  good  word. 

6.  The  pupil  should  be  required  to  give  his  rea- 
sons for  having  used  certain  constructions  or  for 
having  made  certain  uses  of  the  constructive  prin« 
ciples.  He  should  obtain  by  the  inductive  method 
the  ability  to  give  reasons  for  all  constructive  rules 
and  principles. 

7.  Oral  language  work  must  receive  constant  at- 
tention. Beginning  Vv^ilh  the  first  grade's  work, 
pupils  should  be  requested  to  stand  and  give  in  their 
own  language  stories  read  or  told  by  the  teacher, 
the  pupil's  language  being  carefully  corrected. 
With  each  succeeding  grade  the  oral  recitation 
should  receive  increased  attention,  the  object  being 


78  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTION^"^. 

to  teach  the  pupil  to  think  quickly  and  connectedly, 
and  to  express  his  thoughts  orally  with  force  and 
clearness.  This  oral  language  work  is  an  invalu- 
able adjunct  to  the  written  language  work. 

First  Year  Work. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  school  term,  the  pupil,  after 
he  has  told  the  story  of  the  reading  lesson,  or  the 
story  read  or  told  by  the  teacher,  should  be  asked  to 
write  the  same  on  paper  without  reference  to  the 
book.  He  should  be  taught  to  begin  the  first  word 
of  each  sentence  with  a  capital  letter  and  to  place  a 
period  at  the  end  of  each  sentence.  The  rules 
should  not  be  placed  on  the  blackboard  and  memor- 
ized by  the  pupil.  Each  day  there  should  be  a  reci- 
tation on  the  written  reproductions  of  the  reading 
lesson,  or  the  stories  read  or  told  by  the  teacher.  A 
sentence  from  one  of  these  written  reproductions 
that  is  not  begun  with  a  capital  letter  or  ended  with 
a  period,  should  be  copied  on  the  blackboard.  The 
members  of  the  class  should  then  be  asked  to  point 
out  the  mistakes.  If  they  are  unable  to  do  so — and 
of  course  they  will  be  unable  to  find  the  mistakes  at 
first — explain  that  each  sentence  must  begin  with  a 
capital  and  end  with  a  period.  This  would  natur- 
ally lead  to  a  talk  about  the  sentence. 

At  the  end  of  the  school  year,  pupils  of  the  first 
year,  who  have  had  two  months  of  this  written 
work,  will  have  learned  something  about  the  sen- 
tence, and  will  usually  begin  the  sentence  with  a 
capital  letter  and  end  it  with  a  period.  They  will 
have  begun  to  learn  how  to  place  their  thoughts 
correctly  on  paper. 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  79 

77 

Oral  language  vrork  as  indicated  on  page  ^ 
should  receive  careful  attention. 

Some  will  probably  think  that  this  is  asking  too 
much  of  the  first  year  pupils.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  it  is  not  so  difficult  as  the  amount  of  work 
required  by  most  counties  in  number  work  during 
the  first  year.  Number  work  is  not  psychologically 
adapted  to  the  young  mind,  and  the  time  devoted  to 
it  in  the  lower  primary  grades  is  practically  wasted. 
The  written  language  work  on  the  other  hand  is 
naturally  adapted  to  the  young  mind,  and  is  the 
necessary  preparation  to  nearly  all  lines  of  advanced 
school  work. 


Second  Year  Work. 

During  the  second  year  work  pupils  should  write 
in  their  own  language  the  story  of  the  reading  les- 
son, and  during  this  year  the  teacher  should  begin 
the  reading  of  stories  and  have  the  pupils  immedi- 
ately reproduce  them  orally  and  in  writing.  This 
will  gradually  give  to  the  young  mind  the  power  of 
concentration.  Toward  the  end  of  this  year's  work, 
pupils  should  be  asked  to  write  short  stories  on  sub- 
jects assigned.  Subjects  with  which  the  children 
are  familiar  should  be  selected — as  dogs,  cats,  chick- 
ens, flowers,  favorite  pets. 

There  should  be  a  recitation  on  the  written  work 
each  day  during  the  second  year,  and  it  should  em- 
brace the  discussion  of  capitals,  paragraphing  and 
a  few  of  the  simpler  marks  of  punctuation.  Such 
questions  as  pronouns,  possessives  and  plurals,  and 
agreement  of  subject  and  predicate  are  almost  sure 


80  ED  UCA  TIONAL     Q  UE8  TIONS. 

to  come  up,  and  some  pupils  may  be  able  to  do  some- 
thing along  these  lines. 


Third  Year  Work. 

The  subject  matter  for  the  written  work  during 
the  third  year  may  be  obtained  from  the  following 
sources : 

1.  Reproduction  of  the  reading  lesson  without 
reference  to  the  book. 

2.  Reproduction  of  the  stories  read  or  told  to  the 
class  by  the  teacher. 

3.  Letter  writing.  Carry  on  an  actual  corres- 
pondence with  pupils  at  a  distance  so  as  to  necessi- 
tate the  use  of  the  mails. 

4.  Composition  on  subjects  assigned. 

5.  Oral  language  w^ork  should  receive  careful  at- 
tention. 

Composition  on  subjects  assigned  should  be  made 
a  prominent  part  of  this  year's  work.  Select  sub- 
jects with  which  the  children  are  familiar.  Occa- 
sionally ask  each  member  of  the  class  to  have  some 
subject  ready  to  suggest  at  the  next  recitation. 
Pupils  will  often  take  greater  interest  in  the  sub- 
jects which  they  have  selected,  and  the  effort  itself 
is  good  training. 

The  development  of  the  principles  of  constructive 
grammar  should  receive  constant  attention  during 
this  year's  work.  A  text-book  of  any  kind  on  lan- 
guage and  grammar  should  not  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  pupils,  but  there  should  be  a  daily  recita- 
tion on  the  compositions  written.     If  these  princi- 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  81 

pies  are  developed  along  with  the  composition  work, 
language  will  become  alive  and  real  to  the  pupil, 
and  not  a  dead  mass  of  impractical  rules. 

The  following  suggestions  will  indicate  the 
method  by  which  these  principles  should  be  devel- 
oped in  connection  with  the  composition  work: 

CAPITALIZATION. 

Explain  to  the  pupil  that  a  word  is  usually  capi- 
talized for  the  purpose  of  calling  special  attention 
to  it,  either  because  of  its  nature  or  because  of  its 
I^osition  in  the  sentence.  The  first  word  in  a  sen- 
tence is  capitalized  because  it  marks  the  beginning 
of  a  sentence,  and  the  name  word  of  a  particular 
person,  place  or  thing  is  capitalized  to  indicate  that 
it  is  of  particular  importance  as  compared  with  the 
class  to  which  it  belongs.  Custom  has  established 
a  few  exceptions  to  this  basic  principle  of  capitali- 
zation, but  if  the  pupil  once  understands  the  real  ob- 
ject for  the  use  of  capitals,  his  permanent  mastery 
of  their  application  will  only  be  a  question  of  a  few 
years  of  practice.  This  knowledge  will  also  tend  to 
cause  him  to  look  upon  language  as  a  living  organ- 
ism. 

The  w^ork  in  capitalization  as  indicated  above 
should  receive  careful  attention  throughout  all  the 
primary  and  grammar  school  work. 

PUNCTUATION. 

Explain  to  the  pupil  that  the  object  for  the  use  of 
the  marks  of  punctuation  is  to  assist  in  making  the 
thought  of  the  sentence  clearer.  Those  who  use  the 
marks  of  punctuation  with  the  best  effect  do  not 


82  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

punctuate  according  to  rule,  but  according  to 
thought.  In  a  short  sentence  the  thought  is  often 
made  clear  by  separating  certain  parts  of  the  sen- 
tence with  a  comma,  while  in  a  long  and  involved 
sentence  similar  parts  of  the  sentence  demand  the 
semicolon,  and  sometimes  the  colon.  For  this  rea- 
son pupils  ought  not  to  be  required  to  memorize  the 
detailed  rules  of  punctuation,  but  should  be  taught 
to  punctuate  according  to  thought.  Explain  to  the 
pupil  the  value  of  the  different  marks  of  punctua- 
tion and  teach  him  to  observe  carefully  where  the 
voice  naturally  falls  in  the  sentence — where  there 
is  a  break  in  the  thought — and  that  that  should  be 
the  basis  of  his  first  punctuation — in  fact,  the  basis 
of  all  his  punctuation. 

After  a  pupil  once  understands  the  object  for  the 
use  of  the  marks  of  punctuation  and  their  relative 
value,  i)ractice  in  their  application  secured  in  con- 
nection with  the  discussions  on  the  compositions, 
will  be  all  that  he  requires.  No  two  writers  of  note 
use  exactly  the  same  system  of  punctuation,  and 
therefore  the  pupil  may  not  punctuate  according  to 
rules  laid  down  in  the  text-book,  but  he  will  punctu- 
ate so  as  to  make  clear  the  thought  of  his  written 
work,  and  by  so  doing  will  obey  the  general  laws  of 
punctuation.  Punctuation  is  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult parts  of  mechanical  construction,  and  efficiency 
can  be  secured  only  by  practice  that  has  constant 
regard  for  thought,  and  not  for  memorized  rules. 
By  and  bye  the  pupil  will  not  only  have  thoroughly 
mastered  the  more  important  rules  of  punctuation, 
but  he  will  have  built  them  step  by  step,  and  there- 
fore will  be  skilled  in  their  use. 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  83 

The  work  in  punctuation,  as  indicated  above, 
should  receive  careful  attention  throughout  all  the 
primary  and  grammar  grade  work. 

VERBS. 

The  teacher  ought  not  to  ask  the  pupil  to  memor- 
ize the  definitions  of  the  different  parts  of  speech, 
but  should  be  satisfied  if  he  can  recognize  them  in 
sentences  and  understand  something  of  the  nature 
of  each.  Third  grade  pupils  will  be  able  to  do  this 
without  any  special  effort  on  the  part  of  themselves 
or  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  Incidental  discus- 
sions of  the  parts  of  speech  from  sentences  copied  on 
the  board  for  other  purposes  will  secure  this  result. 
The  inductive  method  of  teaching  grammar  does  not 
require  the  formal  parsing  of  the  different  parts  of 
speech,  the  diagraming  of  sentences,  the  declension 
of  pronouns,  or  the  conjugations  of  verbs,  and  there- 
fore the  teacher  in  dealing  with  the  parts  of  speech 
need  not  take  these  subjects  into  consideration. 

Pupils  of  the  third  grade  cannot  go  deeply  into 
the  subject  of  verbs,  but  they  should  make  a  good 
beginning.  In  connection  with  the  discussions  on 
the  compositions,  when  a  sentence  has  been  copied 
on  the  board,  explain  to  the  pupil  that  the  word 
talked  about  in  the  sentence  is  called  the  subject  of 
the  sentence  and  the  word  which  tells  something 
about  the  subject  is  called  the  predicate.  During 
the  third  year  work,  the  pupil  should  learn  enough 
about  the  verb  to  understand  the  agreement  of  sub- 
ject and  predicate.  Explain  to  him  that  a  subject 
which  stands  for  or  denotes  more  than  one  must 


84  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

have  an  action  word  that  denotes  more  than  one; 
and  a  subject  which  stands  for  or  denotes  but  one 
must  have  an  action  word  that  denotes  but  one. 

PRONOUNS. 

Very  few  grammar  school  graduates  can  use  pro- 
nouns even  fairly  well.  On  questions  directly  to 
point  in  the  final  examinations  for  graduation  from 
the  elementary  schools,  from  seventy  to  eighty  per 
cent,  of  those  who  take  the  examination  fail  almost 
entirely.  Neither  do  they  show  a  much  better 
knowledge  of  the  pronoun  in  their  written  work  gen- 
erally. Pupils  who  can  decline  the  pronouns  almost 
faultlessly  and  who  can  distinguish  between  the  ob- 
ject and  attribute  complements,  will  often  fail  when 
asked  to  correct  some  simple  examples — as.  It  is 
him  who  I  saw  yesterday;  John  divided  the  apple 
between  he  and  I.  Pupils  in  the  graduating  classes 
of  the  grammar  school  make  numerous  mistakes  of 
the  same  nature  in  both  their  oral  and  their  written 
work. 

This  inability  of  the  pupils  to  use  and  understand 
pronouns  is  due  directly  to  the  method  of  presenting 
the  subject.  The  time  which  they  have  devoted  to 
this  subject  has  been  consumed  in  memorizing  de- 
clensions, defining  complements  and  learning  case 
forms.  The  pupils  become  lost  in  a  wilderness  of 
rules  which  often  prove  a  positive  hindrance  to  them 
in  the  correct  use  of  pronouns.  In  fact,  most  of 
those  who  use  pronouns  readily  have  learned  to  do 
so  in  spite  of  the  hindering  rules  which  they  may 
have  learned. 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  85 

During  their  third  year  work  pupils  should  first 
learn  to  point  out  the  pronouns  in  a  sentence,  and 
should  be  required  to  tell  why  they  are  pronouns — 
tell  what  word  in  the  sentence  each  stands  for. 
This  knowledge  on  their  part  should  be  followed  by 
a  thorough  explanation  of  the  subject,  object  and 
possessive  forms  of  the  pronouns.  Explain  to  the 
pupil  that  a  subject  form  is  one  that  can  always  be 
used  as  a  subject  of  a  sentence,  and  show  him  how 
the  test  can  easily  be  made.  The  pupil  will  soon 
apply  this  test  with  confidence,  because  he  will  see 
that  the  possessive  and  object  forms  of  the  pro- 
nouns do  not  sound  at  all  natural  when  used  as  the 
subject  of  a  sentence.  During  the  recitations  on  the 
compositions  a  pupil  might  be  asked  to  pass  to  the 
board  and  write  sentences  using  all  three  forms  as 
subjects.  By  this  method  the  pupil  will  readily  see 
that  certain  forms  only  can  be  used  as  the  subject  of 
a  sentence. 

After  a  pupil  understands  how  to  determine  the 
subject  forms,  then  explain  to  him  that  the  subject 
form  must  never  be  used  except  as  the  subject  of  a 
sentence,  or  when  it  stands  for  the  subject  and  com- 
pletes the  predicate.  The  few  exceptions  to  this 
rule  are  unimportant  and  are  seldom  misused. 
Pupils  who  understand  this  principle  will  not  hand 
in  papers  containing  such  expressions  as,  "It  is  me," 
"Between  you  and  I,"  "It  was  them  of  who  I  was 
speaking."  If  a  composition  does  contain  an  ex- 
pression similar  to  those  mentioned  above,  ask  the 
pupil  to  copy  it  on  the  board  and  ask  him  to  use  the 
pronoun  that  stands  for  the  subject  and  completes 
the  predicate,  as  the  subject  of  another  sentence. 


86  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

By  this  method  pupils  will  soon  master  the  use  of 
the  subject  forms  of  the  pronoun. 

Mistakes  are  seldom  made  in  the  use  of  pronouns 
which  denote  possession,  and  if  the  pupil  under- 
stands the  subject  forms  he  will  have  very  little 
trouble  with  the  object  forms.  Some  special  atten- 
tion might  be  devoted  to  the  object  forms  after  the 
subject  forms  have  been  mastered,  but  the  constant 
reference  to  the  object  forms  during  discussion  on 
the  subject  forms  will,  very  likely,  make  this  un- 
necessary. After  the  pupil  has  mastered  the  use  of 
the  subject,  object  and  possessive  forms  of  the  per- 
sonal pronouns  he  might  be  incidentally  informed 
that  they  are  also  called  nominative,  objective  and 
possessive  forms. 

It  is  useless  to  have  a  pupil  define  the  different 
kinds  of  pronouns.  If  he  fully  understand  the  na- 
ture and  use  of  the  personal  pronouns  he  will  sel- 
dom misuse  the  other  pronouns.  It  might  be  well, 
however,  to  have  the  members  of  the  class  discuss 
who  and  what,  as  mistakes  are  sometimes  made  in 
the  use  of  these  pronouns. 

It  is  not  expected  that  third  year  pupils  will  learn 
all  about  pronouns,  or  that  they  will  not  make  mis- 
takes in  their  use.  By  the  method  outlined  above 
they  will  learn  as  much  about  the  nature  and  use  of 
pronouns  as  eight  year  pupils  usually  know,  and  by 
the  time  they  have  completed  the  sixth  year  they 
will  have  mastered  the  subject  of  pronouns. 

The  work  in  pronouns,  as  indicated  above,  should 
receive  careful  attention  throughout  all  the  primary 
and  grammar  grade  work. 


EDUCATIONAL     QUE;^TIONi^.  87 

POSSESSIVES  AND  PLURALS. 

The  pupil  should  not  be  asked  to  memorize  rules 
for  the  use  of  possessives  and  plurals,  but  should 
study  the  subject  entirely  in  connection  with  the 
recitations  on  his  compositions.  In  addition  to  dis- 
cussing all  mistakes  in  the  composition  work,  ask  a 
pupil  to  pass  the  board  and  write  sentences  that  will 
illustrate  the  general  rules.  As:  "The  girl's  hat  is 
red;"  "The  girls'  hats  are  red;"  "The  lady's  hat  is 
brown;"  "The  ladies'  hats  are  brown." 

The  subject  of  possessives  and  plurals  is  not  a 
difficult  one  and  will  be  easily  mastered,  but  until  it 
is  mastered,  the  teacher  should  give  it  careful  atten- 
tion. 

MODIFIERS. 

Pupils  will  seldom  make  a  mistake  in  the  use  of 
modifiers  unless  there  is  some  question  as  to  what 
word  is  modified.  If  a  pupil  were  telling  her  school- 
mate that  a  certain  girl  was  looking  sweetly  at  an- 
other she  would  say:  "Alice  is  looking  sweetly  at 
Frances  to-day."  But  if  she  were  describing  a  qual- 
ity of  her  face  or  expression,  she  would  say:  "Alice 
is  looking  sweet  to-day." 

Mistakes  on  examples  like  these  are  often  made 
by  the  pupil  and  the  best  way  to  remedy  this  is  to 
explain  to  him  that  when  a  modifier  limits  or  defines 
the  subject,  or  the  name  word,  it  should  be  used  as 
if  it  modified  the  word  directly.  In  the  sentence, 
"Alice  is  looking  sweet  to-day,"  it  means  the  same 
as  sweet  girl.  If  the  pupil  understands  and  is  able 
to  apply  this  principle,  he  will  seldom  make  a  mis- 
take in  the  use  of  modifiers. 


88  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS, 

PAEAGRAPHING. 

Paragraphing  should  receive  careful  attention 
during  the  third  year.  If  the  subject  is  properly 
presented,  third  year  pupils  will  make  wonderful 
progress  in  paragraphing.  They  will  even  make  bet- 
ter progress  than  eighth  year  pupils  who  have  not 
had  good  training  in  this  subject. 

Explain  to  the  pupil  that  when  he  begins  to  say 
something  new  about  a  subject  he  must  begin  a  new 
paragraph.  If  he  has  been  describing  the  appear- 
ance of  his  pet  dog,  and  then  begins  to  describe  some 
of  the  tricks  that  his  dog  can  play,  he  must  begin  a 
new  paragraph. 

DICTION  AND  CONSTRUCTION. 

Pupils  should  be  frequently  asked  to  substitute  a 
better  word  for  some  word  in  the  composition  under 
discussion.  This  is  probably  the  best  way  to  assist  a 
pupil  in  securing  a  practical  vocabulary. 

The  construction  of  sentences  and  paragraphs 
should  begin  to  receive  careful  attention  in  connec- 
tion with  the  composition  work  of  the  third  year, 
and  should  receive  increased  attention  with  each 
succeeding  year  until  the  pupil  has  graduated  from 
the  high  school.  The  mental  value  of  this  kind  of 
work  cannot  be  overestimated.  In  order  to  use  good 
diction,  and  to  construct  clearly  and  logically,  a  pu- 
pil must  reason  clearly  and  logically.  It  is  an  easy 
matter  to  write  sentences  and  paragraphs  that  are 
grammatically  correct,  but  the  diction  and  construc- 
tion will  demand  constant  attention.  The  major  part 
of  the  time  devoted  to  the  recitations  on  the  compo- 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  89 

sitions,  should  be  devoted  to  diction  and  construc- 
tion. Tlie  teacher,  at  first,  after  a  pupil  has  studied 
a  subject,  should  assist  him  to  divide  it  into  logical 
sub-heads.  The  pupil,  however,  should  soon  acquire 
the  ability  to  do  this  without  assistance. 

The  work  outlined  in  the  constructive  principles 
for  the  third  year  should  be  carefully  followed 
throughout  all  the  primary  and  grammar  grade 
work,  and  the  nature  of  the  work  should  not  be 
changed  and  its  scope  should  not  be  enlarged  except 
as  regards  verbs,  which  will  be  specified  later.  Third 
grade  pupils  will  not  be  able  to  accomplish  all  the 
constructive  work  outlined  above,  but  the  progress 
which  they  can  make  along  these  lines  is  surprising. 
They  will  learn  to  write  compositions  several  pages 
in  length,  paragraph  neatly,  understand  the  agree- 
ment of  subject  and  predicate,  and  will  make  very 
few  mistakes  in  the  use  of  pronouns.  The  pupil  un- 
derstands the  "why"  for  all  his  work,  begins  to  un- 
derstand the  nature  of  constructive  grammar,  and  is 
beginning  to  look  on  language  as  something  full  of 
life  and  spirit,  and  not  as  a  mass  of  dead  rules. 

Fourth  Year. 

The  subject  matter  for  the  written  work  during 
the  fourth  year  may  be  obtained  from  the  following 
sources: 

1.  Compositions  on  subjects  assigned  from  the 
reading  lessons. 

2.  Keproductions  of  stories  told  or  read  to  the 
class  by  the  teacher. 

3.  Letter  writing. 

4.  Compositions  on  subjects  assigned. 


90  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

5.  Oral  language  work  should  receive  careful  at- 
tention. 

Compositions  on  subjects  assigned  should  be 
made  a  prominent  part  of  this  year's  work.  Select 
subjects  with  which  the  children  are  familiar,  or 
subjects  that  they  have  the  facilities  for  learning 
about.  Have  them  write  about  things  that  make  up 
their  daily  experiences.  Ask  the  pupils  to  suggest 
subjects.  As  far  as  possible,  however,  the  subjects 
assigned  should  necessitate  the  study  of  the  subject 
matter  along  the  other  lines  of  the  pupil's  school 
work,  thus  giving  a  concentration  of  effort  and  a 
unity  of  purpose  to  all  his  work. 

A  text-book  of  any  kind  on  language  or  grammar 
should  not  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  pupils,  but 
there  should  be  a  daily  recitation  on  the  compo- 
sitions written.  In  the  recitations  on  the  coraposi- 
tion  work,  give  careful  attention*  to  capitalization, 
punctuation,  possessives,  plurals,  modifiers,  para- 
graphing, diction,  and  construction  as  outlined  un- 
der the  third  year's  work.  The  pupil  should  not  be 
asked  to  commit  rules,  but  the  constructive  princi- 
ples should  be  developed  as  there  indicated.  As  far 
as  possible  induce  the  pupil  to  note  errors  in  the  use 
of  these  principles  when  a  composition  is  under  dis- 
cussion and  to  suggest  improvement  in  diction  and 
construction. 

In  addition  to  the  work  outlined  in  verbs  in  the 
third  year,  fourth  year  pupils  should  study  verbs  in 
relation  to  the  time  expressed.  Any  study  or  dis- 
cussion of  the  different  modes  should  be  omitted, 
and  pupils  should  not  be  required  to  commit  conju- 
gations. 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS,  91 

Perhaps  the  majority  of  men  and  women  make 
frequent  mistakes  in  the  use  of  verbs  when  express- 
ing time  of  action,  and  in  the  use  of  such  auxiliary 
verbs  as,  will  and  shall,  may  and  can.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  difficult  subjects  that  the  pupil  will  be 
called  upon  to  master  in  connection  with  his  compo- 
sition work,  and  he  should  begin  at  the  bottom  and 
develop  the  subject  gradually. 

In  addition  to  discussing  all  mistakes  in  the  com- 
position work,  a  pupil  should  be  asked  during  these 
recitations  to  pass  to  the  board  and  write  sentences 
expressing  action  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
past,  action  which  is  taking  place  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  action  which  will  take  place  in  the  future, 
action  which  was  completed  at  or  before  a  certain 
past  time,  action  which  is  completed  at  the  present 
time,  and  action  which  will  be  completed  at  or  be- 
fore a  certain  future  time.  The  auxiliary  verbs  used 
to  express  the  different  times  of  action  should  be 
carefully  noted  and  explained.  Each  pupil  should 
continue  this  kind  of  work  until  he  can  write  sen- 
tences expressing  all  the  different  times  of  action 
without  any  hesitancy  whatever. 

By  the  end  of  the  fourth  year  pupils  will  begin  to 
understand  the  nature  of  verbs  and  auxiliary  verbs, 
and  to  feel  confident  in  the  use  of  the  same.  After 
the  pupil  has  fully  developed  and  understands  the 
principle  of  verbs,  he  might  incidentally  learn  the 
technical  names  applied  to  these  principles — as 
tense,  mode,  etc.  This,  however,  would  be  in  the 
sixth  year. 


92  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

Fifth  and  Sixth  Years. 

The  subject  matter  for  the  written  work  during 
the  fifth  and  sixth  years  may  be  obtained  from  the 
following  sources: 

1.  Compositions  on  subjects  assigned  from  the 
reading  lessons. 

2.  Reproduction  of  stories  told  or  read  by  the 
teacher. 

3.  Compositions  on  subjects  assigned. 

4.  Oral  language  work  should  receive  careful  at- 
tention. 

The  subjects  assigned  for  compositions  for  these 
two  years  should  require  more  and  more  independ- 
ent work  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  After  the  pupil 
has  finished  gathering  information  concerning  the 
subject  about  which  he  intends  writing,  he  should 
be  required  to  divide  it  logically  into  sub-heads  be- 
fore beginning  his  composition.  Logical  treatment 
of  subjects  should  be  given  increased  attention  as 
the  work  in  these  two  years  progresses. 

The  subject  matter  should  be  largely  historical 
and  geographical.  Subjects  should  be  selected  that 
will  assist  along  other  lines  of  work,  secure  to  the 
pupil  valuable  information,  and  lay  the  foundation 
for  the  geographical  and  historical  work  of  the  sev- 
enth and  eighth  years.  Compositions  on  men  and 
women  who  are  historically  noted  for  the  part  they 
have  played  in  the  development  of  this  nation 
should  receive  increased  attention.  They  should  not, 
however,  be  stilted  biographies  of  these  men  and  wo- 
men, but  the  story  of  their  life's  work — several  com- 
positions often  being  devoted  to  the  incidents  in  the 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  93 

life  of  one  man,  as,  Boyhood  of  Franklin;  Franklin 
the  Printer;  The  Great  Doctor  Franklin;  Young 
George  Washington;  Washington  in  the  French 
War;  Washington  in  the  Revolution;  Washington  as 
President.  Pupils  are  interested  in  what  men  do 
more  than  in  what  others  say  about  them. 

Material  for  more  than  thirty  excellent  subjects 
along  these  lines  will  be  found  in  "A  First  Book  in 
American  History"  by  Eggleston. 

In  the  sixth  year,  some  subjects  might  be  assigned 
dealing  merely  with  civil  government.     Any  good 
civil  government  can  be  made  the  basis  of  this  work. 
The  following  may  prove  suggestive: 
Duties  of  City  Government. 
Officers  of  Bakersfield  and  their  Duties. 
Duties  of  County  Government. 
Officers  of  Kern  County  and  their  Duties. 
State  Senators. 
State  Assemblymen. 
Duties  of  the  State  Legislature. 
Governor  of  California. 
Courts  of  California. 
Duties  of  State  Courts. 
Necessity  of  Government. 
Pupils  should  be  asked  to  write  about  the  prod- 
ucts of  California.    Assign  such  subjects  as,  The  Ap- 
ple, The  Potato,  Wheat,  Gold,  Silver,  etc.    It  is  best 
not  to  restrict   the  pupil   to   descriptive  work,  but 
have  him  learn  all  he  can  about  a  subject — how  it 
is  produced,  how  it  is  prepared  for  consumption,  for 
what  used.     Better  results  will  be  secured  during 
these  two  years  if  the  pupil  is  permitted  to  tell  all 
he  knows  about  a  subject  than  if  he  be  restricted  to 


94  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

one  phase  of  composition,  such  as  narrative,  descrip- 
tive, expositive,  or  argumentative.  Some  elemen- 
tary work  ought  to  be  accomplished  in  narrative 
and  description  in  the  primary  grades,  but  syste- 
matic work  in  these  subjects  should  be  postponed 
until  the  seventh  and  eighth  years. 

During  the  fifth  and  sixth  years'  work  there 
should  be  a  recitation  on  the  composition  work  twice 
each  week.  No  text-book  of  any  kind  on  language 
or  grammar  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  pupils. 
The  work  outlined  for  the  third  and  fourth  years 
should  receive  continued  and  careful  consideration, 
but  its  scope  should  not  be  enlarged.  By  the  end  of 
the  sixth  year's  work  the  pupil  should  have  thor- 
oughly mastered  the  constructive  principles  of  gram- 
mar; he  should  understand  the  nature  of  the  con- 
structive rules  and  their  application  should  gi\e  him 
no  trouble,  practice  having  made  their  correct  use 
almost  involuntary. 

Seventh  and  Eighth   Years. 

The  subject  matter  for  the  composition  work  of 
the  seventh  and  eighth  years  should  consist  almost 
entirely  of  subjects  assigned.  These  subjects  should 
deal  largely  with  the  work  in  English,  Geography 
and  History.  If  many  subjects  are  assigned  that  will 
require  the  pupil  to  devote  a  considerable  part  of  his 
time  to  lines  of  work  not  connected  with  his  regular 
school  work,  he  must,  of  necessity,  slight  such  sub- 
jects as  Arithemetic,  English,  History  and  Geog- 
raphy. Thoroughness  demands  that  the  pupil  con- 
centrate his  efforts  upon  the  essential  studies,  and 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  95 

not  attempt  too  many  independent  lines  of  work  at 
the  same  time. 

The  following  subjects  are  suggestive  of  the  kind 
that  should  be  assigned  for  these  two  years'  work: 

1.  In  Geography: 
Causes  of  Winds. 
Causes  of  Tides. 

Causes  of  Ocean  Currents. 

Uses  of  Wool. 

Uses  of  Cotton. 

Rice  Culture  in  the  South. 

Value  of  Railroads  to  Commerce. 

Effects  of  Railroads  upon  the  Social  Life  of  a 

Nation. 
Effects  of  Railroads  upon  the  Political  Life  of  a 

Nation. 
Effect  of  Ocean  Currents  upon  Climate. 
Garden  Products  of  the  South. 
Effect  of  Rivers  on  Land  Forms. 
Effect  of  Climate  on  the  Products  of  a  Country. 

2.  In  History: 

European  Trade  with  the  Eastern  Countries 
prior  to  1492. 

Why  a  Water  Route  to  the  Eastern  Countries 
was  Desired  about  1492. 

United  States  Senate. 

Hamilton's  Financial  Scheme. 

Fashion  of  Dress  for  Men  in  1790. 

Mode  of  Travel  in  1790. 

Object  for  Two  Branches  in  the  Legislative  De- 
partment. 

Spoils  System. 


96  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

3.     In  English: 

The  selections  studied  will  determine  to  a  great 
extent  the  subjects  assigned.  The  following  in  the 
"Lady  of  the  Lake"  may  prove  suggestive: 

Customs  of  the  Scottish  Highlanders. 

Customs  of  the  Scottish  Lowlanders. 

History  of  the  Douglas  Family. 

Relations  of  Scotland  and  England. 

Government  in  the  Scottish  Clans. 

Relations  of  the  Highland  Chiefs  to  the  King  of 
Scotland. 

Life  at  the  Royal  Court  of  Scotland. 

Scottish  Scenery. 

Scott. 

Roderick. 

Fitz-James. 

Ellen. 

Malcolm  Graeme. 

Loch  Katrine. 

Rocky  Isle  and  Ellen's  Home. 

The  Chase. 
In  addition  to  the  work  indicated  above,  the  pupil, 
during  the  last  years  of  his  grammar  school  work, 
should  have  systematic  practice  in  narrative  and  de- 
scriptive writing. 

For  subjects  in  the  narrative  work  the  pupil 
fihould  rely  to  a  large  extent  upon  his  personal  ex- 
periences. An  incident  in  the  pupil's  life  that  was 
important  enough  to  impress  itself  upon  his  mem- 
ory is  usually  a  worthy  subject  for  a  composition. 
If  it  was  of  interest  to  him,  it  will,  very  likely,  be  of 
interest  to  the  members  of  his  class.  For  the  de- 
scriptive work  choose  such  subjects  as,  My  Home, 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  97 

My  Bedroom,  a  Successful  Eabbit  Trap.,  How  to  Put 
up  a  Swing,  A  Sunset,  An  Apple,  A  Flower,  A 
Plant,  An  Animal.  In  describing  fruits,  flowers, 
plants  and  animals,  the  pupil  should  base  his  de- 
scription upon  the  careful  examination  of  an  actual 
specimen. 

During  the  seventh  and  eighth  years  there  should 
be  two  recitations  each  week  on  compositions.  These 
recitations  should  be  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the 
compositions,  particular  attention  being  directed  to 
thought,  diction  and  construction.  By  the  end  of 
the  sixth  year,  the  pupil  should  understand  the  na- 
ture of,  and  should  have  acquired  the  ability  to  ap- 
ply readily,  the  constructive  principles  of  grammar. 
The  time  which  he  devotes  to  composition  work  dur- 
ing the  last  two  years  of  his  grammar  school  life 
should  be  devoted,  almost  entirely,  to  the  logical 
treatment  of  the  subject,  and  to  clearness,  smooth- 
ness and  conciseness  of  expression.  The  only  way 
for  him  to  accomplish  anything  definite  along  these 
lines  is  by  practice  in  writing  compositions  and  by 
a  mutual  discussion  of  the  same  under  the  direction 
of  a  teacher  who  understands  composition  and  gram- 
mar and  can  teach  these  subjects  to  pupils. 

The  vast  majority  of  boys  and  girls  must  face  the 
world  with  its  duties  and  responsibilities  with  no 
other  educational  preparation  than  that  provided  by 
the  grammar  school.  Their  grammar  school  work 
should  have  cultivated  their  power  to  think  logic- 
ally, and  should  have  given  them  the  ability  to  ex- 
press their  thoughts  orally  and  in  writing  in  at  least 
moderately  clear,  smooth  and  concise  English.  Clear 
thinking  and  a  clear,  smooth  expression  of  thought 


98  EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS. 

may  be  considered  prerequisites  of  a  successful  life 
if  said  life  must  depend  upon  personal  initiative. 
Hence  the  value  of  composition  work  can  hardly  be 
overestimated. 

Some  teachers  complain  of  composition  work  be- 
cause they  are  unable  to  achieve  success  in  teaching 
it.  This  usually  means  that  they  do  not  understand 
composition  and  grammar,  unless  understanding 
composition  and  grammar  means  having  at  the 
"tongue's  end  hundreds  of  rules."  It  might  be  well 
to  remind  all  those  who  are  unable  to  teach  com- 
position and  grammar  in  the  public  schools  so  that 
pupils  will  learn  to  express  their  thoughts  orally 
and  in  writing  in  at  least  moderately  clear  and 
smooth  English,  that  they  owe  it,  as  a  duty  to  the 
taxpayer  and  to  the  pupil,  to  stop  teaching-  until 
they  are  better  qualified  for  the  work.  The  object 
of  the  public  school  system  is  to  prepare  boys  and 
girls  for  their  life's  work,  and  not  to  supply  po- 
sitions for  teachers. 


THE    STATE    TEXT-BOOK    SYSTEM. 


Uniformity,  cheapness  to  the  pupil,  and  quality  of 
subject  matter  are  the  three  beneficent  results  that 
the  advocates  of  a  state  series  of  text-books  claim 
for  the  system.  There  is  a  uniform  series  of  text- 
books for  the  elementary  schools  of  this  state,  thus 
fulfilling  the  first  advantage  claimed;  but  that  said 
books  are  cheap  to  the  pupil  in  dollars  and  cents  is 
plausibly  questioned,  and  that  the  subject  matter 
of  a  majority  of  said  books  is  of  good  quality  is  em* 
phatically  denied  by  the  vast  majority  of  the  edu- 
cators of  the  state.  Uniformity  in  the  text-books  of 
the  state  is  good,  cheapness  of  the  text-book  to  the 
pupil  is  good,  but  good  quality  of  subject  matter  in 
text-books  is  absolutely  essential  to  good  work.  The 
schools  of  the  state  can  do  good  work  without  using 
the  same  text-books.  They  can  do  good  work  with- 
out using  cheap  text-books,  but  they  cannot  do  good 
work  when  compelled  to  use  text-books  which  con- 
tain poor  subject  matter. 

The  condemnation  of  the  subject  matter  in  the 
State  Series  text-books  by  educators  who  are  en- 
gaged in  elementary  school  work  is  so  general  and 
emphatic,  that  a  discussion  of  the  same  would  seem 
unnecessary.  However,  a  restatement  of  some  of 
the  general  defects  will  be  made  without  attempt- 
ing a  detailed  analysis. 


100  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

THE  STATE  ARITHMETIC. 

One  of  the  main  defects  in  the  State  Arithmetic  is 
a  lack  of  explanation  of  mathematical  principles. 
The  following  is  taken  from  the  preface :  "They  [the 
members  of  the  State  Board  of  Education]  feel, 
however,  that  arithmetics  have  been  too  much  given 
to  talking  and  not  enough  to  doing — that  a  student 
seldom  or  never  masters  the  thought  in  a  long  and 
minute  explanation.  He  cannot  understand  it  be- 
fore working  the  examples  and  does  not  need  it  af- 
terwards." 

In  other  words,  the  State  Arithmetic  has  been 
compiled  on  the  supposition  that  a  pupil  who  can 
solve  an  example  will  understand  the  principles  in- 
volved. This,  of  course,  is  a  fallacy,  and  a  fallacy 
that  the  teacher  must  constantly  guard  against. 
Those  who  are  engaged  in  the  supervision  of  gram- 
mar school  work,  know  as  a  matter  of  fact,  that 
graduates  of  the  grammar  school  can  often  solve  a 
problem  if  it  is  similar  to  those  they  have  been  ac- 
customed to  solving,  but  if  they  are  asked  to  solve 
a  problem  different  in  form  from  those  they  have 
been  accustomed  to  solving,  though  it  does  involve 
the  same  principles,  they  are  unable  to  proceed  with 
the  solution.  Not  enough  time  is  devoted  to  arith- 
metical principles  and  too  much  is  devoted  to  ma- 
chine-like drill  on  solutions.  The  State  Series  Arith- 
metic, by  a  woeful  lack  of  explanation  of  principles 
involved,  places  a  premium  on  this  kind  of  work. 
It  consists  of  a  compilation  of  examples,  and  to  the 
pupil  it  is  so  much  dead  matter. 

The  teacher,  of  course,  is  supposed  to  supply  the 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  101 

explanation.  If  he  has  sufficient  time  he  may  be  able 
to  do  this.  We  should  remember,  however,  that  in 
most  of  the  counties  of  this  state  the  majority  of  the 
children  attend  school  in  the  country  districts, 
where  one  teacher  has  charge  of  all  the  grades.  Un- 
der such  conditions,  the  teacher  is  crowded  for  time 
in  all  his  work,  and  explanation  must  necessarily  be 
cut  short.  If  each  new  principle  were  properly  ex- 
plained, the  pupil  would  be  able  to  study  most  of 
them  unaided  and  thus  relieve  the  teacher  of  a  great 
deal  of  unnecessary  work.  Furthermore,  the  best 
mental  discipline  that  a  pupil  will  receive  during  his 
grammar  school  work  will  be  derived  from  master- 
ing the  principles  of  arithmetic  unaided,  except  by 
the  clear  analysis  of  principles  involved  found  in 
good  text-books  under  the  head  of  "explanations." 

Another  defect  in  the  State  Series  Arithmetic  is 
the  offering  for  solution  examples  beyond  the  men- 
tal capacity  of  the  pupil.  (See  exercise  142).  The 
teacher  will  drill  his  pupils  on  these  examples  until 
they  can  solve  them,  the  pupils  committing  the  solu- 
tions as  they  would  commit  a  selection  of  prose  or 
poetry.  The  arithmetical  principles  used  in  the  so- 
lution are  not  understood.  It  is  needless  for  pupils 
to  attempt  the  solution  of  problems  beyond  their 
mental  capacity.  It  would  be  better  for  them  to  de- 
vote their  time  to  studying  the  principles  and  in 
making  fairly  complex  applications  of  the  same. 

When  we  compare  the  absurd  methods  in  the 
State  Series  Number  Lessons,  and  the  skeleton-like 
construction  of  the  State  Series  Arithmetic,  with 
other  arithmetics  many  of  which  have  been  written 
with  regard  to  the  psychological  development  of  the 


1()2  WVOATWtAL    QUESTIONS. 

young  mind,  we  can  understand  why  teachers  in  the 
elementary  schools,  and  superintendents  of  element- 
ary school  work  become  discouraged,  and  why 
county  boards  of  education  insist  on  the  use  of 
supplementary  arithmetics. 

THE  STATE  HISTORY. 

Of  all  the  state  text-books  the  history,  perhaps, 
possesses  the  least  merit.  It  lacks,  almost  entirely, 
the  true  historical  spirit.  The  subject  matter  is 
chopped  up  into  sections  resembling  the  lecture 
notes  of  an  academic  professor.  To  the  pupil  it  is 
lifeless.  Perhaps  80  per  cent  of  the  pupils  in  the 
grammar  school  of  this  state  detest  the  study  of  his- 
tory— whereas  it  should  be  one  of  the  most  fascinat- 
ing and  entertaining  of  the  grammar  school  sub- 
jects. This,  of  course,  is  often  partly  due  to  the 
teacher,  but  teacher  and  pupil  cannot  do  good  work 
without  good  text-books.  Few  teachers  or  pupils 
have  anything  but  words  of  condemnation  for  the 
State  History. 

The  State  History  has  been  written  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  study  of  history  consists  in  the  stat- 
ing of  dates  and  relating  the  events  of  wars,  ad- 
ministrations, settlements — the  mere  skeleton  of  his- 
tory. The  history  of  a  nation  or  of  an  institution 
is  a  growth  and  should  be  studied  as  such.  The 
study  of  cause  and  effect  should  be  substituted  for 
the  memorizing  of  dates  and  events.  Any  text-book 
on  history  that  does  not  recognize  this  fact  ought 
not  to  be  used  in  the  school  room  as  a  text-book.  It 
is  encouraging  to  note  that  in  many  counties  of  this 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  103 

state,  county  boards  of  education  have  practically 
abolished  the  State  History  by  encouraging  the  use 
of  supplementary  histories.  This  is,  perhaps,  a  vio- 
lation of  the  spirit  of  the  law  but  the  end  would 
seem  to  justify  the  means. 

STATE  READERS. 

The  State  readers,  extending  from  the  first  to  the 
sixth  year  inclusive,  are  not  evenly  graded,  and  most 
of  the  subject  matter  in  the  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth 
years  is  entirely  foreign  to  the  other  work.  It  con- 
sists largely  of  myths  and  fairy  stories,  whereas  it 
should  consist  largely  of  history  stories — thus  lay- 
ing a  foundation  for  the  study  of  history  in  the  ad- 
vanced grades.  Nothing  is  more  fascinating  to  the 
child  mind  than  the  story  of  what  a  great  man  has 
done,  and  in  such  a  story  the  outline  of  ten  years  of 
a  nation's  history  can  often  be  skilfully  interwoven. 
There  are  a  number  of  text-books  on  reading  in 
which  this  object  is  kept  constantly  in  view. 

STATE  LANGUAGE  BOOK. 

The  little  state  language  book  called  ^'Lessons  in 
Language"  defeats  the  object  which  its  authors 
hoped  it  would  secure;  viz.,  freedom  and  fluency  of 
expression. 

The  constructive  work  consists  mostly  in  complet- 
ing sentences,  filling  in  blanks,  and  answering  ques- 
tions. Those  engaged  in  composition  work  know 
from  experience  that  nothing  blunts  free  expression 
more  than  following  such  methods.  Fluency  of  ex- 
pression and  application  of    the  practical    part  of 


104  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS, 

grammar  can  be  best  secured  by  written  work.  The 
subject  matter  for  this  written  work  may  be  repro- 
duction of  the  reading  lesson  in  the  pupil's  own  lan- 
guage without  reference  to  the  book,  reproduction 
of  stories  read  or  told  to  the  class  by  the  teacher 
and  compositions  on  subjects  assigned.  (For  fuller 
details  on  grammar  and  composition  see  page  71.) 

STATE  SPELLER. 

The  list  of  words  in  the  state  speller  is  as  good  as 
will  be  found  in  most  text-books  on  spelling.  The 
time  devoted  to  the  large  number  of  written  lessons, 
however,  is  practically  wasted. 

STATE  GEOGRAPHY. 

The  State  Primary  geography  is  the  bugbear  of 
the  teacher's  life.  A  number  of  counties  have  en- 
tirely abolished  its  use.  The  advanced  geography  is 
a  fairly  good  text-book  of  the  old  school,  but  devotes 
entirely  too  much  time  to  details,  and  not  enough 
space  to  the  habits  and  life  of  the  people  as  they  are 
effected  by  the  physical  conditions  of  the  country  in 
which  they  live.  (For  a  fuller  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject of  geography  see  page  i^.)\5~^ 

STATE   PHYSIOLOGY    AND   CIVIL   GOVERN- 
MENT. 

The  State  Civil  Government  is  an  excellent  little 
book  for  grammar  grade  work,  and  so  is  the  hy- 
gienic part  of  the  State  Physiology. 

In  passing  judgment  on  the  subject  matter  of  the 
state  text-books,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  best 


EDUCATIONAL     QUESTIONS.  106 

proof  of  its  poor  quality  is  the  almost  universal  con- 
demnation which  it  receives  from  the  teacher  in  the 
elementary  schools,  and  from  the  superintendents  of 
elementary  school  work.  Those  who  work  with  the 
material  are  the  best  judges  of  the  same.  It  would, 
perhaps,  be  difficult  to  find  a  disinterested  educator 
of  importance  who  does  not  consider  the  majority  of 
the  state  text-books  an  imposition  on  the  public 
schools  of  the  state. 

It  is  only  natural  that  the  state  text-books  are  of 
an  inferior  quality;  it  would  be  surprising  if  they 
were  otherwise.  Text-books  in  the  United  States 
have  been  improving  for  more  than  a  hundred  years. 
Each  one  must  enter  the  field  of  competition  and 
live,  if  it  lives  at  all,  on  its  own  merits.  Most  of 
them  have  been  written  by  men  and  women  who 
have  made  their  life's  work  the  study  and  teaching 
of  a  certain  subject.  Such  conditions  naturally 
would  produce  and  have  produced  good  text-books 
on  most  subjects. 

The  text-books  of  the  California  States  Series  are 
the  offsprings  of  entirely  different  conditions.  They 
do  not  enter  the  field  of  competition.  Most  of  them 
have  been  written  by  men  and  women  who  have  not 
made  their  life's  work  the  study  and  teaching  of  the 
subject  on  which  they  have  produced  a  text-book. 
Many,  perhaps,  who  assisted  in  compiling  the  state 
text-books  secured  their  positions  through  political 
influence.  Assuming,  however,  that  they  were  se- 
lected because  of  their  peculiar  qualifications,  is  it 
reasonable  to  expect  that  text-books  written  by  con- 
tract in  this  young  state  of  California,  where  the 
opportunities  for  research  and  investigation  are  lim- 


106  EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS. 

ited,  will  be  as  good  as  those  written  in  the  East, 
where  the  facilities  for  investigation  are  unlimited, 
and  where  the  author  knows  his  books  must  live  on 
their  merits  alone?  What  chance  would  the  Cali- 
fornia Series  of  text-books  have  in  the  markets  of 
the  East? 

It  seems  reasonable  to  presume  that  any  investi- 
gator of  this  subject  must  conclude  that  so  long  as 
California  writes  her  own  text-books  by  contract  she 
will  have  text-books  of  an  inferior  quality.  It  is, 
perhaps,  best  for  her  to  have  a  uniform  series  of 
text-books,  and,  it  is  claimed,  cheaper  to  the  pupil 
for  her  to  print  those  text-books,  but  it  is  not  best 
for  her  to  write  them. 

For  the  solution  of  the  text-book  question  in  Cali- 
fornia, the  following  plan  is  suggested: 

1.  There  should  be  a  uniform  series  of  text-books 
used  in  the  elementary  and  secondary  schools  of  the 
state. 

2.  All  text-books  should  be  selected,  not  written 
by  contract,  by  the  State  Board  of  Education. 

Two  requisites  necessary  to  bodies  authorized  to 
choose  text-books  are  the  ability  to  choose  the  right 
kind  of  books  and  the  ability  and  inclination  to  re- 
sist the  monetary  considerations  offered  by  some 
publishing  houses.  In  many  instances  during  recent 
years,  members  of  state    and  territorial  boards  of 


During  the  last  regular  session  of  the  State  Legislature,  I 
urged  Senator  Smith,  of  Kern  and  San  Luis  Obispo  Coun- 
ties, to  prepare  a  constitutional  amendment  embodying  this 
plan,  but  pressure  of  other  business  prevented  him  from  pre- 
pnriag  said  bill. 


EDUCATIONAL    QUESTIONS.  107 

education  have  been  known  to  accept  bribes  from 
publishing  houses,  and  because  of  such  considera- 
tions have  adopted  text  books  for  use  in  the  schools 
of  the  state,  or  of  the  territory  as  the  case  may  be. 

The  majority  of  the  State  Board  of  Education,  as 
provided  for  in  the  chapter  on  the  "Certification  of 
Teachers,"  v^ill  very  likely  consist  of  men  who  can- 
not be  swayed  in  their  selections  of  text-books  by 
favoritism  or  by  monetary  consideration. 

I  believe  the  method  outlined  above  would  satis- 
factorily settle  the  text-book  question.  The  commit- 
tee would  be  permanent  and  its  character  would  in- 
sure the  selection  of  text-books  on  their  merit  alone. 
The  committee  could  secure  reasonable  rates  on 
books  selected,  or  the  state  could  buy  the  copyright 
for  California.  But  it  would  be  best  perhaps  to  se- 
cure reasonable  rates  direct  from  the  publishers  be- 
fore finally  adopting  a  book.  Text-books  on  all  sub- 
jects are  constantly  improving,  and  it  might  be  un- 
wise to  bind  the  schools  of  the  state  to  use  a  certain 
text-book  for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  and  this 
would  be  necessary  in  order  to  make  the  purchase  of 
a  copyright  a  business  proposition. 


THE  Western  Series  of  Readers 

EDITED    BY    HARR    WAGNER 

DESIGNED   ESPECIALLY    FOR 
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IN  OUR  WESTERN  SCHOOLS 
ALL  FULLY  AND  BEAUTIFULLY  ILLUSTRATED.     EACH  VOLUME  CONTAINS 
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PACIFIC  HISTORY  STORIES 

Br    HARR    WAQNER 

FOR  FOURTH  AND  FIFTH  GRADES 

During  the  short  time  that  this  book  has  been  on  the  market 
its  sale  has  been  phenomenal.  It  is  pronounced,  by  all  of  our 
leading  educators,  to  be  excellently  adapted  to  the  work  for 
which  it  was  intended  —  a  supplementary  reader  in  history 
study  in  the  Fourth  and  Fifth  Grades.  Fully  two-thirds  of 
the  counties  in  California  have  this  book  on  their  supplemen- 
tary  and  library  list. 

VOL.   II. 

PACIFIC  NATURE  STORIES 

Br  HARR   WAQNER  AND  DAVID   S.  JORDAN 
AND  OTHmRS 

FOR  FOURTH  AND  FIFTH  QRADES 

A  companion  volume  to  the  above.  It  contains  some  eighteen 
most  interesting  and  instructive  sketches  of  our  westerr  ani- 
mal and  vegetable  life,  all  told  in  a  delightfully  flowing  style 
and  written  by  the  greatest  educators  of  the  West.  As  a 
reading  book  in  nature  study  it  cannot  be  excelled. 


VOL.  II 


NATURE  STORIES  OF  THE  NORTHWEST 

Br    HERBERT  BASHFORD 

STATE  LIBRARIAN  OF  WASHINGTON 
FOR  SIXTH  AND  SSVSNTH  QRADES 

This  book  covers  a  more  extended  field  than  Volume  II.,  and 
is  not  strictly  confined  to  the  Northwest.  Among  the  inter- 
esting stories  will  be  found  those  of  The  Black  Bear,  The 
K-^nzJisher,  The  Clam,  The  Meadowlark,  The  Seals,  etc.,  all 
of  which  are  of  interest  to  any  pupil  in  the  West.  The 
illustrations  are  works  of  art  and  true  to  nature. 


VOL.   IV. 

TALES  OF  DISCOVERY  ON  THE  PACIHC  SLOPE 

BY  MARQARET  QRAHAM    HOOD 

FOR  THIRD  AND  FOURTH  QRADBS 

The  Tale  of  History  could  not  be  more  charmingly  told  than 
it  is  in  this  volume,  which  is  intended  for  the  lower  grades. 
A  Third  or  Fourth  Grade  pupil  will  read  it  easily,  and  with 
interest.  Its  eight  chapters  are  devoted  to  the  early  history  of 
our  great  western  empire,  and  tell  of  characters  and  events  but 
little  touched  upon  by  the  general  school  history.  The  child 
here  acquires  a  taste  that  leads  him  to  further  research. 

VOL.   V. ^^ 

TALES  OF  OUR  NEW  POSSESSIONS,  THE  PHILIPPINES 
Written  by  R»  VAN  berqen 

A  Thirty-year  Residentof  the  Orient 

AUTHOR  OF    "STORY    OF  JAPAN,"   ETC. 

ILLUSTRATED   BY  P.  N,    BOERINQER 

WAR   ARTIST    CORRESPONDENT  AT  MANILA 

FOR  San  Francisco  papers 
FOR  THE  SIXTH,  SEVENTH  AND  EIGHTH  QRADBS 

A  timely  book  for  the  young.  We  employed  to  write  this  vol- 
ume, a  man  v/hose  thirty  -  ^ear  residence  in  the  Orient  made 
him  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  people  and  their  customs. 
Its  thirty-eight  chapters,  all  richly  illustrated  by  the  best  artist 
we  could  secure,  will  give  the  pupil  an  excellent  idea  of  our 
new  country — a  knowledge  which  will  prove  of  great  finan- 
cial value  to  him. 


VOL.   VI. 


STORIES  OF  OUR  MOTHER  EARTH 

BY  HAROLD   W.    FAIRBANKS,    Ph,  O, 
ILLUSTRATED   BY  MARY  H.    WELLMAN 

WITH  27  FULL-PAQE  ILLUSTRATIONS 
AN    INTENSELY  INTERESTINQ  AND   INSTRUCTIVE   WOltK 
ON   NATURE   STUDY 
FOR  THE  SIXTH  AND  SEVENTH  GRADES 

Can  the  study  of  Geology  be  made  interesting  to  the  young? 
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